Reclaim overpaid Council Tax

Who is most likely to be owed

Data we gathered under the Freedom of Information Act shows that £141 million is owed to Council Tax-payers across 349 local authority areas in England, Scotland and Wales. Our news story has a full council-by-council breakdown, but for reclaiming, all you need to know is that 808,000 households are owed money. This guide is about how to check if you're due some.

Essentially, a Council Tax account will be in credit if you've paid more than you owe at any point. 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.

Here are the main reasons you might be owed:

• You pay for your Council Tax in advance, and the account's closed before the point you've paid up until. 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-February, you've overpaid by a month and a half. 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 forget to cancel a payment. This means you could end up paying when you no longer live in the property.

• You get a retrospective discount, for example, if 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.

Knowing whether or not you fall into the categories above can be difficult. But based on our research, we believe:

You're MOST likely to be able to claim if you've moved out of a council area in the last 32 years (all the way back to 1993), and weren't paying by Direct Debit.

This is because:

• If you moved within the same local authority area, it's more likely the council would have spotted your old account was in credit and refunded you/reduced your bill at your new address – whereas you're more likely to be owed if you left the area, especially if you didn't leave a forwarding address.

• Typically councils try to refund credit wherever possible, and if your council has your Direct Debit details, this should be straightforward. But 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.

However, to be clear, there will be exceptions – some who have moved within local authorities and/or paid by Direct Debit WILL be owed too. For example, if you lived in a home where there were multiple bill-payers, it might have been harder for the council to establish who should have been refunded.

How do I make a claim and get the money back?

The best way to claim for money you think you're owed will depend on your council, as some have different options:

• Option 1. Check if your old council offers an EASY online claims form. This is the best way to find out if you're owed, and for some it will be the simplest way. Just google "[council name] Council Tax refund form" – we found that half the time this'll take you to an online claims form, and if not it should take you to a page explaining your council's process.
  
  Many councils' forms require you to have your old Council Tax reference number (you should find this on a previous bill), and some forms we've seen are long – if either of these is a problem, try the option below instead. But the advantage of doing it this way is that if you find you ARE owed, you won't need to do anything else to reclaim.

• Option 2. Call or email your council. If there's no online form, you don't have enough details or the form's off-puttingly long, you can try calling, emailing or live chatting with your council instead. (You can check contact details on Gov.uk.)
  
  While this may seem the more straightforward option, it's worth noting if you do find you're owed cash, you'll likely then have to fill in a form to reclaim it (or at least give further details).
  

  Important. Do make sure you check if you're likely owed any cash first by following our criteria above. We don't want everyone just calling their council on spec to find out. It'd waste your time and kill their switchboards when many will be needing to speak to their council for essential support amid the cost of living crisis.

Quick question

'I claimed back £100+ after moving'

Here are a couple of success stories to inspire you...

Laurence from London reclaimed Council Tax credit after moving away from Tower Hamlets. He said:

Former MSE Will B also had a nice surprise, when he found he was owed money by Manchester City Council after a new tenant successfully lowered the Council Tax band. He said: