Council tax could change as homes face HMRC revaluation

The prospect of changing the way households are charged for council tax was raised during a Treasury Committee hearing, as MPs questioned HMRC chief executive John-Paul Marks about the experience of Wales.

Dame Harriett Baldwin asked what would happen if a new Chancellor wanted to introduce a similar revaluation across England.

The question is significant because council tax bills are based on property valuations that date back decades in England.

A revaluation could therefore change which council tax band a property falls into – potentially altering how much households are required to pay.

Exactly how such a system would work would be a matter for ministers.

Mr Marks pointed to Wales, where a council tax revaluation is currently under way and is due to go live in April 2028.

He said the Welsh Government had done well in preparing for the change, particularly through community engagement and building consensus.

“I would look at the experience from somewhere like Wales to see what good looked like in terms of community engagement, building a consensus around the approach and how to get to reform that could be implemented safely and well.”

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Could your council tax bill change?

A revaluation would mean properties being assessed against more up-to-date values rather than relying on historic valuations.

That could potentially result in some homes moving into different council tax bands.

However, the hearing did not confirm that an English revaluation is being introduced, nor did it establish how council tax bills would change for individual households.

Dame Harriett pressed Mr Marks on what an England-wide system would involve, asking how long it would take if a Chancellor wanted to pursue it.

Mr Marks said officials would examine Wales as an example of how such a major reform could be delivered.

He described the process as a “significant undertaking” and stressed the importance of getting the reform right.

The exchange comes amid continuing speculation about possible changes to the way property is taxed, including whether the current council tax system could eventually be replaced or substantially reworked.

However, no such replacement was confirmed during the hearing.

What was clear was that an England-wide revaluation would involve significant work by the Valuation Office and would require careful preparation.

The committee's chair summed up Mr Marks' evidence by asking whether the process would take years.

Mr Marks replied: “I think it is years”.

Dame Harriett then asked whether that meant it was unlikely to be delivered during the current Parliament.

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Mr Marks replied: “It would certainly be pretty tight in this Parliament, yes.”

For homeowners and renters alike, the key question is therefore what any future reform could mean for individual council tax bills.

A revaluation could create winners and losers depending on how new property values translated into council tax bands - but until ministers set out their plans, there is no way of knowing which households would pay more or less.