Almost one million UK homes could be owed share of £141 million for overpaying council tax

Hundreds of thousands of UK residents are owed a combined £141 million in overpaid council tax, according to new research.

And it's now time to try and claim back your cash, if it applies to you. There's a decent chance given the sheer amount that shouldn't be in the public purse.

Council tax goes up almost every year, which combined with increases in the TV licence doesn't go down very well with millions across the UK.

Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert team has been behind the research, following a raft of Freedom of Information requests sent to UK councils. And it's not the first time Lewis and his team have gone after council tax, with previous work seeing one man paid back £10,000 he was owed.

Why you might have overpaid your council tax

Overpayments on council tax are most common when you have moved out of a council's area after already having paid some, or maybe all, of your bill for the year in advance.

The FOIs reveal that a staggering 808,000 UK households across England, Scotland and Wales are owed the £141m.

Which areas have been most affected?

Residents in London have overpaid the most, coming in at £44,539,446. This is followed by the South East at £18,748,985 and the North West at £14,855,548.

In Scotland £9,348,118 was overpaid making it a truly countrywide problem.

On a council level, the largest overpayments have happened in the London Borough of Newham, where a staggering £9,539,750 extra was paid in.

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In North Somerset, an extra £4,012,278 was paid.

Third to fifth in the overpayment list is Manchester City (£3,103,864); Wigan Metropolitan Borough (£2,957,396); and Wokingham Borough (£2,776,942).

There are no refunds due for just one UK council, with no overpayments at all in Eastleigh Borough.

A total of 18 councils didn't response to FOIs sent in by the MSE team.

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How to check if you're due a council tax refund

It'll vary depending on your local authority, so it's not the same for everyone.

But there's two options that the MSE team has set out.

When it comes to having moved house and who you pay your council tax to, the easiest thing to do at first is check if your old council has any forms on its website that you can claim through.

The MSE team writes: "This is often the quickest and easiest way to reclaim. A quick google search of '[council name] council tax refund form' should take you to an online claims form, or at least a page explaining your old council's process for reclaims.

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"You may need your old council tax reference number, which you'll find on a previous bill - and some of the forms we've seen are long. If either of these is a problem, try the option below, but the big advantage of claiming online is that if you discover that you ARE owed, you don't need to do anything more to reclaim."

If the above method doesn't work, it might be time to email or call your council directly.

But Lewis' team say you should only do this if you truly do believe you might be entitled to a refund, given the pressure on local authorities in the cost of living crisis.

Topics: Home, UK News, Martin Lewis, Money, Cost of Living

Tom Earnshaw

Tom joined LADbible in 2024, specialising in SEO and trending content. He moved to the company from Reach plc where he enjoyed spells as a content editor and senior reporter for one of the country's most-read local news brands, LancsLive. When he's not in work, Tom spends his adult life as a suffering Manchester United supporter after a childhood filled with trebles and Premier League titles. You can't have it all forever, I suppose.

@TREarnshaw