Council Tax Refund

Abe59

Hi all, this is just an update on a success story for myself in that I’ve just had my house council tax band changed from band E to band D. All it required was a simple email using the form on the website. However I would warning, this is not the right form for the purpose but in any event the government independent valuation office appointed a case officer for me and within two weeks my house council tax band was changed from E to D. The issue came from the local council and decided to re-calculate the refund for me and initially this came to just below £5000, a tidy sum but I estimated it to be at least 2 to £3000 more than the figure given. When I challenged them on this I was told that they had deducted the remaining balance of council tax for the year that was over £1500.00from the amount that was due back to me without asking whether that was what I wanted. Worse than that was the fact that when I challenged them they then told me that their records only went back to the year 2000 and as I’d occupied the house from 1997  I would need to provide the evidence that I’d occupied the property from that year. The issue that I have is that had I not challenged this I could have had 3- years overpayment refunds missing that I would never have known about. The total sum due back to me is nearer £8000. I have also asked them to produce  a statement to me to show how their figures are arrived at and has the included interest that would have accrued due to the change in the value of money using CPI or RPI for the relevant period. I am waiting for a response.

lincroft1710

Firstly you have no legal entitlement to interest on any refunds. There is no reference to interest on refunds being payable in CT legislation and thus the council are not obliged to pay interest.  A council would be criticised by its auditors if it paid such interest.

Secondly the council can deduct the outstanding balance of the current CT financial year from any refund as that is a debt due on the 1 April of the CTFY, but councils allow this debt to be spread over either 10 or 12 months. However a CT payer can request that the outstanding balance is not deducted from the refund.

Thirdly, I am a little surprised that the records of CT payments only go back 20 years and would have thought their system would show the date on which you first occupied your home. There is a further problem for them in that had you been legitimately claiming 25% single person discount, this would not be recorded and in theory you could be refunded more than you would be due.

Abe59

Thanks for the post. I now know that interest is not payable but that does not mean it is right given that PPI for example does have and interest calculations. The council do not lose out as it stands as they have simply paid me the difference between Band E an D. You imply that the council are allowed to deduct the remaining council tax for the year without referring back to me to see if I was happy to do so. It would have been common courtesy to have asked me first given that very household in the country is offered that option and I am happy to pay monthly given that I have never defaulted on my payments. You are surprised records not being available further back than 2000 and my point here was that had I not checked I would not have been told. Fortunately I have all of my council tax bills from the day I moved in 23 years ago which I had to produce to prove that I had occupied the prop since that date. My point in this post is how many people are in the wrong band. I have had an excellent result and I hope it helps someone.

lincroft1710

PPI is a completely different ball game and there is no comparison with any rights or legislation pertaining to this and CT legislation. CT legislation makes no provision for interest, therefore councils will not pay it. Whether it is "right" or not is (whatever "right" is) is immaterial as councils have to abide by legislation and the legislation supports them in not paying interest.

As you have found out, councils do not operate on "common courtesy", they only have to operate according to legislation, which, to be fair, they were doing. It was fortunate that you kept all your CT bills.

I worked in the VOA for 35 years, the last 12 spent settling CT appeals, so I agree many CT bands could be incorrect or perhaps not sound. Unfortunately there are quite a few of those which are too low, rather than too high.