Martin Lewis urges anyone who pays council tax to call and get possible £174 back

Money-saving guru Martin Lewis is calling on individuals to get in touch with their local council to claim an average refund of £174 due to potential overpaid Council Tax. The founder of Money Saving Expert has disclosed that around £141 million in overpaid Council Tax is waiting to be claimed by more than 800,000 households, averaging out to £174 per household.

Many residents who have relocated between different council jurisdictions without a Direct Debit arrangement might have inadvertently overpaid their Council Tax, leaving councils with no means to return the excess funds. On the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 and ITVX, Martin encouraged eligible viewers to contact their council to retrieve their money.

He explained: "This is about £141m of overpaid Council Tax credit belonging to 800,000 homes."

To make a claim, he advised: "To reclaim, you just go onto the council's form or you call them up."

However, he cautioned against overwhelming council services, saying: "But please don't clog them up unnecessarily. This is quite specific.", reports the Express.

Martin outlined that the refunds are typically due to people who have moved to a different council area since 1993 and were not paying by Direct Debit, as he noted: "Because then they couldn't contact you if they owed you money."

He posed the question to viewers: "So why may you be owed? ".

"Well you paid in advance, you're paying on 10 months, you had a couple of months left, you moved out early, or you forgot to cancel your payment, or the person who moved in after you got re-banded and you were actually owed money off the back of that."

"So have a look at that; scout your old house, remember what band you were in, if it's lower now, you may well be owed money."

"But don't just do this speculatively."

Martin then advised viewers that they can also opt to spread their payments over 12 months instead of 10. This change doesn't result in savings or additional costs, but it does mean that for most of the year, the monthly bills will be slightly lower, assisting with budgeting.

Martin went on to say: "Final note, in England, if you're paying 10 monthly, some people love it because they get a two-month holiday at the end, some people hate it for budgeting."

"You have a legal right to shift the paying to 12 monthly instalments. In Scotland and Wales you can often do it as well."