Council tax bills cover-up exposed

Tens of thousands of householders could have been paying too much council tax for years in a "scandal" that ministers attempted to cover up.

Ministers and officials have known since at least 2005 that many homes were placed in the wrong tax bands, with householders paying more than they should. It is claimed that the miscalculations could have affected up to 400,000 homes - and it is still not known how far back the over-payments go.

Although the errors were relatively simple and could have been corrected painlessly, ministers chose to keep the matter secret.

Whitehall documents show that the Government concealed the mistakes, concerned that local authorities would have to make huge rebate payments and fearful of the "adverse press coverage" the controversy would generate.

Within the past few days, ministers finally published a report of a key Whitehall meeting of the Council Tax Revaluation Board in November 2005, shortly after the decision to postpone the revaluation had been taken. The report was published with key sections blacked out, but, in an embarrassing blunder, the supposedly secret sections of text were still legible.

One key passage, which ministers tried to hide, shows that homes were found to be in the wrong band but that officials were too worried to admit the mistake.

However, "among 23 million homes there may be a small number that require action". A Department of Communities and Local Government spokesman said: "Anyone who has evidence that they are in too high a band can request a review. If successful, they will also qualify for a rebate."

In 2006-7 there were 27,130 appeals, of which 5,274 were considered by tribunals. Roughly one in eight of these were at least partly successful. Other passages from the report that ministers tried to obscure refer to "future revaluations" for England - appearing to contradict a claim by Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, that "we have no plans for revaluation".

Council tax is a system of local taxation collected by local authorities. It is a tax on domestic property. Generally, the bigger the property is, the more tax will be charged. Some property will be exempt from council tax.
Valuation bands
Each local authority keeps a list of all the domestic property in its area. This is called the valuation list. Each property is valued at April 1991 prices and put into a valuation band. A different amount of council tax is then charged on each band.

The valuation bands are:-
In England:
Valuation band
Range of values

A Up to £40,000

B Over £40,000 and up to £52,000

C Over £52,000 and up to £68,000

D Over £68,000 and up to £88,000

E Over £88,000 and up to £120,000

F Over £120,000 and up to £160,000

G Over £160,000 and up to £320,000

H Over £320,000

In Scotland:
Valuation band
Range of values
A Up to £27,000

B Over £27,000 and up to £35,000

C Over £35,000 and up to £45,000

D Over £45,000 and up to £58,000

E Over £58,000 and up to £80,000

F Over £80,000 and up to £106,000

G Over £106,000 and up to £212,000

H Over £212,000  

….

Search your council tax banding using this service from the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). The VOA is responsible for maintaining the business rating and council tax valuation lists for England and Wales.
How to use this service
You can check your band by either entering your postcode or your billing authority, if you know it.
…Check here.

….In ten minutes, at no cost, you can check ‘n’ challenge your council tax band, potentially slashing what you pay now and getting a backdated rebate to when the system started in 1993. Thousands have already tried this and many succeeded in getting £1,000s back.

• 
  Are you overpaying?

• Step
  1: The neighbours check

• Step
  2: The valuation check

• 
  Free house price valuation

• 
  What was your house worth in 1991

• 
  Compare council tax bands

• Step
  3: Are you in the wrong band?

• Step
  4: Challenge your banding

• 
  Council Tax Rebanding Q&A

• 
  Get extra discounts