A Martin Lewis fan has explained how he got £7,625 back in council tax after spending 28 years in the wrong band.
The reader, known only as Shaun, says he received a £6,125 refund after successfully challenging his council tax band following advice he’d read on the MoneySavingExpert website.
In addition, he also doesn’t have to pay council tax until next year after fixing the error, saving him an additional £1,500.
MoneySavingExpert estimates 400,000 homes in England and Scotland may be on the wrong council tax band - which means you could be overpaying as well.
Challenging your council tax requires a bit of research first and there are some risks involved - for example, you could end up discovering you’re in too low of a band and may end up paying more.
We explain what you need to know about challenging your council tax band below.
Shaun said: “I found we'd been in the wrong band for 28 years.
“Followed Martin's advice and two months later got a £6,125 refund and no council tax to pay until next year - saving £1,500 more [effectively £7,625 back].
“Plus, we'll be £350/yr better off. Thank you, we're so grateful.”
How do you challenge your council tax?
Before you consider challenging your council tax, you need to do your research first.
If it turns out you’re on too low of a council tax band, then you'll start paying a higher amount if your challenge doesn't go to plan.
Your neighbours will also be affected, if it turns out your entire street has been underpaying.
The first step to checking whether you're likely to be successful is to see what council tax band your neighbours are on.
You can check council bands online for free, so you don't need to ask your neighbours - just make sure you try and compare homes of similar sizes and value.
Use the GOV.uk website to do this for houses in England, or the Scottish Assessors Association for properties in Scotland.
This is only a rough guideline, so it should be warned again that it could just be that your entire street is in the wrong banding.
Before going ahead with a challenge, you should also work out how much your property was worth in 1991, as this is when council tax was launched by the government.
MoneySavingExpert has a free calculator tool to help you do this, as well as a table on what band you should have been put in.
Once you've done these checks, if you think you’ve got a good case on your hands you can contact the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in England and Wales.
For home in Scotland you'll need to contact the Scottish Assessors Association (SAA) to submit your challenge.
Should you be successful, the valuation office will contact you and the band will be changed - and you’ll be due money back.
You can appeal to an independent valuation tribunal if you're not happy with the decision.
How to lower your council tax bill
The type of council tax reductions or discounts you could be entitled to depend on your circumstances.
Help offered also varies between local authorities, so it's best to get in touch with your council to see what you could claim.
For example, if you claim benefits - such as Universal Credit or Pension Credit - y ou could be entitled to up to 100% off your council tax bill.
Other situations where you could get money off include if you live alone or live with someone who doesn't qualify for paying council tax.
You'll typically get 25% off in these scenarios.
You could get 50% off your council tax bill if everyone is your home is “disregarded” from this bill.
And the maximum 100% discount could apply to someone who has a severe mental impairment and lives alone, or if you live in an all-student household.
See more advice on how to lower your council tax bills here.
