How to claim your tax back as thousands miss out on €1,250 cash back

More than 50% of Irish workers are missing out on an average of €1,250 according to new research.

A taxback.com survey found that most Irish employees are not claiming the tax reliefs and refunds they are due back on a yearly basis.

Barry Cahill, director of Taxback.com’s Employee Financial Wellbeing Service, said he was surprised and alarmed at the sheer lack of people claiming tax refunds. While some believe tax reliefs and refunds are only for those on a certain income or meeting eligibility conditions, in fact, most people are due something at the end of each tax year.

READ MORE: Government to consider new lower ‘middle’ income tax rate of 30 per cent

The experts at taxback.com have completed tax returns for thousands of workers who participated in its Employee Financial Wellbeing programme, with the highest refund reaching €7,400.

Mr Cahill said: "It’s surprising, and somewhat alarming, to find that almost half of us are still not claiming back our tax refund at the end of the year. This figure should be much, much higher.

"However, the data speaks for itself – it’s clear that people remain uncertain, reticent, and/or unwilling to approach the topic of their taxes, often for fear of the process complicating their lives more.

"This is a misnomer we very much want to quash as, for the vast majority of people, we find that there is money owed to, not by, the taxpayer.”

Make sure you claim what you're eligible to (PA Images)

For those who feel lost when it comes to the world of tax returns, but who want to claim tax for the current year, simply log onto your revenue.ie account using your PPS number, date of birth and password.

According to the Revenue: ”In order to claim additional tax credits, or declare additional income for a previous year, you must complete an Income Tax Return."

You can do this by following these steps:

• sign in to myAccount and complete or skip the Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
• click the ‘Review your tax 2018 -2021’ link in PAYE Services
• select ‘Submit your Income Tax Return’ for the appropriate year.

All Pay As You Earn (PAYE) customers must complete an Income Tax Return to:

• claim additional tax credits, reliefs or expenses
• declare additional income
• obtain a Statement of Liability for the year
• claim refunds of any tax or Universal Social Charge (USC) overpaid
• confirm any liability of any tax or USC underpaid.

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