If you’ve moved house in the last 31 years, especially to a different council area, you could be one of the 800,000 households eligible for a Council Tax refund worth £100s
Hundreds of thousands of Brits could be in for a hefty cash boost if they’ve moved house in the last 31 years. The warning comes following the wrath of ‘Awful April’ which has seen multiple household bills skyrocket – including Council Tax.
The majority of councils increased the yearly bill by 4.99 per cent* – the highest increase allowed without triggering a local vote or referendum. However, six areas were given the green light to exceed this cap, including Bradford, which has increased its Council Tax by a whopping 9.9 per cent.
Used to fund local services, including schools, bin collections, repairs to parks, leisure facilities, and sometimes even helping fund local police, fire and rescue services – Council Tax is controversially based on the price your property would have sold for on the open market on 1 April 1991 in England – or 2003 for Wales. Despite the tax increase, the Local Government Association warned further cuts to crumbling services can’t be ruled out.
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However, Martin Lewis’ MSE recently discovered through Freedom of Information requests that a staggering £141 million is owed to Council Tax-payers across 349 local authority areas in England, Scotland and Wales. This means around 800,000 households are owed money, with claims potentially worth more than £100.
“Essentially, a Council Tax account will be in credit if you’ve paid more than you owe at any point,” explains MSE. “Normally, this isn’t a problem – in fact, as Council Tax is usually paid in advance, you’ll often be in credit. However, when an account is closed while in credit – which can happen if you move to another area, for example – this can be an issue.”
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Moving house tends to be the main reason why people have accidentally overpaid on Council Tax, which is paid in 10 instalments. For example, if you pay for the duration of April to March – but moved out in mid-February, you’ll likely have overpaid by a month and a half.
“Councils will often automatically give you a refund before closing your account,” MSE added. “But if yours doesn’t and you don’t reclaim, it’ll be closed in credit.”
Another reason so many people are eligible for money back is because they forget to cancel their Direct Debit payments when they have moved out – meaning they continue to pay for Council Tax on a property they don’t live in. Others could be due a refund if they’ve successfully managed to get their property’s Council Tax rebanded.
MSE states people most likely to have a valid claim will be those who have moved out of a council area in the last 31 years (back to 1993) and weren’t paying Council Tax via Direct Debit. “The vast majority of councils that do try to refund credit tell us they can’t if you paid by any method other than Direct Debit – for example, if you paid by cash, standing order or cheque,” the site added.
Some people are also eligible for a discount or full exemption from Council Tax. You can find out if you meet the necessary criteria here.
*Councils in England that have a responsibility for delivering social care can up council tax every year by up to 4.99 per cent: anything over that would trigger a referendum or local vote. Smaller councils without these duties are only permitted to increase the fee by 2.99 per cent each year.
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