Martin Lewis has been helping people with financial tips and tricks on his website moneysavingexpert.com for 20 years. In the site’s introduction, it explains that the average person can give themselves ‘the equivalent of a 25% pay rise by being an active, savvy consumer’. One tip that the site is currently suggesting concerns people who pay council tax - and may be eligible for a refund.
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According to Lewis’ website, over £150 million in overpaid tax is sitting in council coffers. This affects 100,000s Brits who often don’t even know that they are due money back. Check if you are eligible for a refund of £100+ here.
Eligibility for the refund
If you have moved home since 1993, you could be owed over £100 if you reclaim overpaid council tax. Even if you haven’t moved since then, you could still be due some money - let’s get into it.
First, here are the possible reasons you could have overpaid. As council tax is paid in advance, your council tax account will often be in credit. This is not usually a problem, unless the account is closed before the point you’ve paid up to:
Councils will often automatically give you a refund before closing your account – but if yours doesn't and you don't reclaim, it'll be closed in credit.
You could also have forgotten to cancel a payment, meaning you have paid when you no longer live in the property. Lastly, you could be due a retrospective payment if your property has been ‘rebanded’. This could happen if the person who moves in after you successfully applies to get the tax band of the property lowered. In this case, you have overpaid and could have a credit in your account.
To find out whether your old home in England or Wales has been rebanded, you can visit the Government’s council tax band checker. If you live in Scotland, head over to the Scottish Assessors’ Association website.
How to make a claim
The first port of call is to check whether your old council offers an easy online claims form. Moneysavingexpertadvises you simply Google search ‘[council name] council tax refund form’ to get access to this.
Top tip: be sure to fish out your old council tax reference number as the form may ask for it. You should be able to find this on a previous bill.
If this method doesn’t work for you, try calling or emailing your council. You can check for their contact details on Gov.uk. It’s best to check whether you think you are likely due a refund before ringing up - calling to ask on spec could block the lines for your council and be a waste of your time.
Moneysavingexpert includes some success stories on their site. Laurence from London explained:
I claimed back £103. I was paying by direct debit for five years from the same account with no arrears [before I moved out].
There was only credit because I left the borough part way into the month after my direct debit had gone out.
This tip could lead to a welcomebundle of cash in the run-up to winter. You can check Moneysavingexpert’s page on this topic for more details.
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