800 council tax dodgers

MORE than 800 Dumfries and Galloway residents have dodged paying nearly £300,000 in council tax in just six months, it has been revealed.

Dumfries and Galloway Council has been forced to write off council tax debts totalling £289,249 that were racked up by 803 accounts between April 1 and September 30 this year.

A further £77,828 has been lost due to 161 housing benefit overpayments being made – with one of the recipients pocketing a staggering £14,216 they weren’t entitled to.

Meanwhile, nearly £250,000 is missing from the council coffers because business owners have failed to pay their non-domestic rates and have shut up shop or can’t be traced.

In total, £665,000 has been written off by council officers in the first six months of this year.

The figures have been laid bare in a report for councillors to scrutinise at next Tuesday’s enabling and customer services committee.

The report states: “The council has a responsibility to maximise its receipts from council tax, non-domestic rates, sundry debtors, and overpaid housing benefit.

“In doing so, it continues to follow a strategy which has led to high collection levels for all areas of income.

“However, it is not possible to collect all accounts billed and accordingly, for accounting and administrative reasons, amounts considered to be uncollectable require periodically to be written out of the council’s books.

“This does not stop the council from pursuing that debt again should circumstances change.”

For debts that are deemed to be uncollectable, amounts up to £10,000 can be written off by the relevant executive director, whereas if over £10,000, the executive director and the council’s chief financial officer must co-authorise the write-off.

There were eight accounts with debts over £10,000 that were written off, seven of which were businesses for non-domestic rates, and the single case of housing benefit overpayments to the tune of £14,216.

Reasons for write-offs include: sequestration, gone away with no trace, no realistic prospects of recovery, and uneconomic to pursue.

Despite the alarming amount of income lost, council tax collection rates overall have been maintained at 96.7 percent – the same level as 2024/25.

Some debts that had been previously written-off at an earlier date were reclaimed by the council as ‘write-ons’.

A total of £13,117 was reclaimed, with the money coming from 73 council tax accounts, 11 for non-domestic rates, and 52 sundry debtors.

The council report states: “This shows that the council still actively pursues debt if circumstances change, to maximise receipts.

“The majority of debt recovered above relates to dividends received following sequestration.”