Anyone who has moved home since 1993, so in the last 31 year, is being urged to check whether they are one of the 808,000 households owed overpaid council tax.
Data gathered by Money Saving Expert under the Freedom of Information Act found that £141million was owed to council tax-payers across 349 local authority areas in England, Scotland and Wales.
MSE points out that most households will be overpaying council tax during the year as taxpayers pay in advance. The problem of overpayment arises when an account is closed while in credit – which can happen if you move to another area, for example – this can be an issue.
You may have overpaid council tax if:
– You pay for your Council Tax in advance. For example, if you pay for a year’s worth of Council Tax in 10 instalments, covering April to March, but move out in mid-January you will have overpaid by two and a half months. Some councils will give you an automatic refund but others may not.
-You forget to cancel a payment. So you end up paying when you no longer live in the property.
-You are due a retrospective discount because your property’s rebanded. If the person who moves into your property after you successfully applies to get the tax band lowered, this means that you overpaid and so a credit could be applied to your closed account. To find out if your old home has been rebanded in England or Wales, see the Government’s Council Tax band checker. For Scotland, see the Scottish Assessors’ Association website.
If you’ve moved out of a council area in the last 31 years, since 1993, and weren’t paying by direct debit you may be more likely to be owed money, this is because your council would have been able to refund your new account if you had stayed in the area.
If you paid by cash or cheque then the council will not have your account details, which it would have if you had paid by direct debit, so would not be able to give you a refund.
If you lived in a home where there were multiple bill-payers, then even if you did pay by direct debit it might have been harder for the council to establish who should have been refunded.
The best way to claim for money will depend on how your council deals with refunds.
You can check online if your council has a refund form, if you do not have a reference number you may need to ring or email your council.
If you are not sure what local authority you were paying council tax to, you can check here.
