PAYE employees should make sure they claim tax refunds every year, one expert has said.
Marian Ryan is business development director with Taxback.com.
She told Moncrieff there's a lot people are unaware of.
"Taxes are something that people kind of say 'I must do that - I must claim back my refunds' but they never actually get around to doing it.
"There is the assumption 'My employer looks after all of that for me'... and the flip-side then is people have the fear - the fear that they're going to have the underpayment.
"What I'm always advocating for people to do is to look into your taxes.
"Nine time out of 10 there's actually a refund there for you, rather than the flip-side.
"So it's always worth, every year, to have a look and see what you may be entitled to claim back".
There's also a flat-rate expense that workers can claim - ranging from a few hundred euro to €2,500.
"A flat-rate expense is a tax relief that you're entitled to based solely on your occupation.
"There's over 180 different occupations that are entitled to it.
"And the great thing with claiming your flat-rate expenses is that the Revenue will assume that your circumstances are the same year-on-year.
"You can go back four years - so if it's a thing that you have never claimed it, you can go back four years and get a refund for the last four years".
How to do it
Form 12 is the tax refund form you need.
Marian explained that this can be done on paper or online.
"It goes through all the different incomes that you might have - you may have your employee income, you might have had some social welfare income throughout the year as well.
"So it's where you declare what incomes you had - but most importantly it's where you claim your tax refunds back.
"It's where you say what expenses you had throughout the year.
"You let the Revenue know your personal circumstances - whether you got married during the year, whether you have children - and stuff like that.
"And all these different things are little building blocks there to get a better tax refund for yourself".
She said any "major life event" is taxable.
"The year that you get married is good year for your taxes - you can claim what's called Year of Marriage Relief.
"It's really beneficial to people if either one spouse isn't working at all, or if there's one spouse that's working but earning below the threshold of €36,000.
"When you get married you can share your tax credits between yourself and your spouse".
And she said even a separation could have tax benefits.
"If there's a marriage breakdown it's a really good year for your tax and tax refunds.
"Probably not great for you personally, but in an essence you get an additional tax credit... so both spouses would be due quite a substantial refund".
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