Farmers could receive £14,000 council tax rebate

Farmers could claim back thousands of pounds of council tax if their farmhouse is found to be in the wrong tax band, says Stephen Buckingham, rural surveyor at Wright Marshall.

Rebates may be possible for farmhouses in tax bands F, G or H, where the home is shown to be integral to the business operation.

Downgrading a farmhouse by one tax band could result in a rebate of up to £7,000 if backdated to 1993 when the council tax was introduced, or up to £14,000 if the house is downgraded by two tax bands.

“You need to consider that you might be paying too much council tax if you are running your business from your house,” said Mr Buckingham.

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“If your farmhouse is in bands G or H, then you should definitely consider this. If it is in tax band F, then it might still be possible to get a rebate.”

Criteria for downgrading include farms with at least 100-200 acres, farm buildings around the farmhouse, and the farmhouse being used to house the business’ office and feed the main farmworkers.

However, each farmer’s situation would need to be judged on a case by case basis, said Mr Buckingham.

So far, Mr Buckingham has worked on around a dozen such cases with a 100% success rate and is currently handling 10 other cases.