We can issue a refund when there is a valid credit balance on your account, such as:
- an overpayment
- an award of a relief or exemption
- your rateable value has changed
Do I need to request a refund?
We have internal procedures to check for accounts in credit and also, to identify as far as reasonably practicable, where customers have moved address within the borough, to transfer any overpayment to their new account.
However, if your bill is in credit and you have not received a refund, please follow the instructions below.
Credit balances on open accounts
If you do not request a refund, we will normally use the credit amount to reduce the balance on your account. This may not happen until a new bill is issued, due to a change in your circumstances, or at annual billing when we issue a bill for the new year’s amounts. If you want to claim the refund earlier, please follow the instructions below.
Transferring money from one Business Rates account to another
If you would like to transfer the money between your own Business Rate accounts, you will need to complete the refund form. If it is to another person's Business Rate account, then you will need to explain why. This may however require further information and may delay the request.
Credit balances due to a relief or exemption
We don't ordinarily issue a refund for credit balances which have occurred due to an award of a relief or exemption. Instead, we will use the credit to reduce the balance on your account and send you a revised bill with the instalments adjusted accordingly. If you would prefer to receive a refund, please complete the refund form.
Request a refund
To request a refund you will need to:
- Download and complete the refund form.
- Complete the form.
- Save the completed form to your device and send it to us using the Evidence upload form.
Am I entitled to interest on my overpayment?
The only time interest may be considered is if the credit is due to a change in your rateable value and/or rating assessment on the 1st April 2023 rating list. The exception to this is if a liability order has already been issued against the ratepayer for late or unpaid business rates.
The amount of interest is set by regulations and is based on 1 percentage point below the standard rate as at 15th March. Due to low interest rates over the last years, no interest has been payable in these circumstances but will now be reinstated due to the increase in standard rate.
Interest is not payable on any other type of overpayments.