Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about TaxBandCheck, our reports, and the council tax challenge process.
TaxBandCheck is a self-serve data tool that analyses your property against 29M+ EPC records, Land Registry price paid data, VOA tribunal decisions and planning designations to calculate a case strength score from 0–10. It tells you whether your council tax band is likely wrong and how strong your evidence is.
No. TaxBandCheck is a data tool. We give you the evidence and documentation to challenge your own band. The VOA challenge process is straightforward and free — our reports give you everything you need to do it yourself.
The Full Intelligence Report (£4.99) gives you the complete data analysis, all 9 panels and a PDF summary. The Complete Challenge Bundle (£29.99) adds a pre-populated VOA challenge letter, PAD data request template, step-by-step submission guide, evidence checklist and a professional comparable analysis — everything you need to actually submit a challenge.
30 days from purchase. You can download your PDF at any time during that period and keep it permanently.
We store your purchase record to verify access. We don’t sell or share your data.
A low score (0–4) suggests the evidence doesn’t strongly support a challenge. It’s still your decision to make — the report shows you exactly why the score is what it is.
Every property in England is assigned a council tax band (A to H) based on its value in April 1991. If the Valuation Office Agency decides a property was placed in the wrong band, they can change it — this is called rebanding. If your band goes down, you’re owed the difference for every year you overpaid.
Yes. If the Valuation Office Agency agrees your band should be lowered, your council must refund the difference for every year you overpaid at the higher rate. Refunds are backdated to when you moved into the property — there is no time limit.
Yes, this is possible. The VOA can increase your band if they review it and decide the current band is too low. Our reports show you exactly what the evidence says, so you can make an informed decision before challenging.
TaxBandCheck analyses your property across six independent data sources: the VOA’s postcode band data, 29 million EPC certificates, Land Registry price paid records, Valuation Tribunal decision records, MHCLG planning data, and flood data. Each factor is weighted and combined into a 0–10 case strength score. Properties scoring above 4 have meaningful evidence of potential over-banding — those scoring above 7 have strong multi-source evidence. The tool doesn’t guess: every score is backed by real data. Only the Valuation Office Agency can formally change a band, but our scoring engine tells you whether the evidence justifies pursuing it.
The VOA resolves tens of thousands of Council Tax challenges each year. In 2023-24 alone, 27% of resolved challenges resulted in a band reduction. Many experts believe further bands may be incorrect.
Simple cases can be resolved in weeks. If a new challenge needs to be submitted to the VOA, it can take 3–6 months. The process is free and can be done entirely online.