This year could be a bumper one for applications for tax refunds as people look to claw back money from the taxman in the wake of the household charge and the local property tax (LPT), according to Taxback.com.
In the first quarter of this year, tax refund inquiries are up approximately 10pc on the same time last year, it said.
“We can’t be sure as to why there are a growing number of people applying for refunds but our guess would be that people are, in part, trying to fund their household charge and the LPT liabilities,” said Taxback.com’s Barry Flanagan.
“We’ve also noticed an increase in ‘early bird’ returns, with many submitting their 2012 returns well ahead of the October deadline to get their refunds as soon as possible.”
While recent Budgets have resulted in the curtailment of some credits and reliefs and therefore somewhat reduced the potential for some refund claims, going forward people still have an opportunity to claim tax refunds due to them for previous years, explained Taxback.com.
In addition, there is still a long list of tax reliefs available to people and, if claims are made, savings of hundreds of euro could be received.
“A lot of people still find looking into their tax affairs confusing or complicated, resulting in them paying more tax than is necessary and losing out on entitlements,” added Flanagan.
“Revenue has made attempts to educate taxpayers as to their entitlements regarding tax credits and reliefs, however, despite this we believe that there is still millions of euro going unclaimed each year. We believe one of the most important issues for people to be aware is that an individual can claim refunds due to them for prior years. Claims may be made for four years, ie currently claims can be made as far back as 2009.”
