Reply To: Severe Mental Impairment for CT purposes
MarkI’m not a C/Tax expert but here is by best shot:
The list of disregarded persons can be found in Schedule 1 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. Para 2 of that act has the SMI category (semi) defined.
For the full definition you need to expand on para 2(1)(c) which is the bit that says the Secretary of State can add to the definition. The additions can be found in the Council Tax (Discount Disregards) Order 1992 (SI1992/548). However – this has been amended many times over the years to change the SMI definition. Therefore, you also need to look at:
SI1994/543, SI1995/619, SI1996/636, SISSI1996/3143, SI1997/656 and SI 1998/291.
I would guess there is some later stuff relating to the New Tax Credits too but if so I can’t find it.
That should keep you busy for a while! Incidentally, having read this stuff I can’t find any reference to age being a relevant factor. Maybe a clue lies in an intersting paragraph in the CPAG Council Tax Handbook which says that the Department of Health issued a circular to GP’s which included advice about certificates of mental impairment. The guidance was apparently included “as an Annex in the revised version of Practice Note No. 2” but I don’t know where to find this.
Good luck!