Council Tax

What is Council Tax?

The Council Tax is a local tax set by the Council to help to pay for the services it provides. There is only one bill for each house and it has a personal component and a property component. It is based on the value of your property relative to others in your local area.

Who has to pay the Council Tax?

Where a house is someone's sole or main residence, the owner-occupier or tenant will usually be liable for the Council Tax bill.For other houses, including empty property, holiday homes, etc., the tenant or owner will normally be liable.

The owner is also responsible in a limited number of cases in which it would be difficult to make the people living in the property liable.

Council Tax is set for 8 different bands, A - H, dependent upon the value of your property, which is set by the Assessor. 

The Band D charge in the Western Isles in 2008/9 is £1,024, no increase from 2007/8.

Water and sewerage charges which are collected by the Comhairle on behalf of Scottish Water have increased by 3.7%.

The total aggregate charge (Council Tax + Water Charge + Sewerage Charge) has therefore increased by 1%.

The Council Tax for 2008-9 is calculated initially on the basis of a Band D property, and fractions are used to calculate the tax for all other bands. The charges set can be seen here: Council Tax and Scottish Water Charges 2008/09.

The Council’s revenue budget for 2008/9 is £117.7 million. This is funded primarily by grants from the Scottish Government and Non-Domestic Rate income. The sum to be met by the Council Tax is £9.4 million.

To check the banding of a property anywhere in Scotland go to the Assessors’ Portal.