Council Tax Credits and Refunds
If your Council Tax account is in credit you may request a refund. A credit can occur if:
- You have moved out of the West Lancashire area
- You have moved within the West Lancashire area but are not the person liable for council tax at your forwarding address (you have joined another household)
- You have been awarded Council Tax Support
- You have been awarded a discount or exemption
- The banding of your property has been reduced by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA)
- You have overpaid Council Tax
All credits are checked before a refund is issued and we allocate an overpayment or credit to any other outstanding Council Tax account(s) you may have.
If you do not have any outstanding accounts we will offset your credit against your next bill or if you would prefer to receive the credit you can ask us to pay it into your bank account.
How to claim a Council Tax refund
If you pay by direct debit, a refund will be processed back into the bank account from which the payments came, unless we are advised otherwise.
If you have not made payments by direct debit and your council tax account goes into credit, you can request to have the amount refunded back to you. Refunds are issued via Bacs and we require the following information:
- Council Tax reference number or address the refund relates to
- Contact telephone number and email address
- Nominated bank account name
- Sort code
- Account number
This information must be provided in writing or by email. This information cannot be accepted over the telephone.
All requests for a refund are subject to validation checks. After validation has taken place we will issue a refund via Bacs as soon as possible from the date of your request.
Once the refund has been processed on your account you will be notified of this, once notified we ask customers to allow 7 – 10 days for the amount to show in your nominated bank account.
Errors and disputes
We have the right to refuse a refund if the credit has occurred due to an error.
If you receive a refund you are not entitled to, you will be required to pay it back to West Lancashire Borough Council.
A dispute over a refund can arise between individuals who have been jointly liable for a bill. For example, in the case of a relationship breakdown where one party has moved out. We will not become involved in disputes of this nature as we expect the parties concerned to reach a mutual resolution.
The credit will normally remain with the property concerned. We reserve the right to take individual circumstances into account where appropriate. For example, where all payments were received from one person’s bank account we may decide to refund them.
Claiming a refund on behalf of someone else
The bank details you supply must belong to the person responsible for the Council Tax at the address you are claiming a refund for.
If they do not have their own bank account or there is another reason why a refund cannot be issued directly to them, please ensure you provide a contact telephone number and/or email address as we may need further information before we are able to process the refund.
If the person responsible for the Council Tax has passed away, the executor, administrator of the estate, or appointed solicitor can claim the refund on their behalf. We may require evidence of appointment of executorship, for example, a copy of the will.
