Ireland Tax Refund FAQs

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For PAYE/Standard Workers in Ireland

Our Irish tax FAQs for PAYE workers answer all your questions about tax in Ireland and how to get your refund.

The Irish tax system can be complicated but our Irish team ensure you claim back anything you've overpaid as well as checking for any additional expenses or benefits to make sure you get your full Irish tax rebate.

Taxback.com customers get an average Ireland tax rebate of €840. Apply now or try our free Irish tax refund calculator to see how much money you could be owed.

If you've got a query about your Irish tax refund that isn't answered below, Chat Live online with our tax experts via instant messenger to find out about your tax return now or visit us in our offices in Dublin, Kilkenny or Cork.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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When can I get my tax back?

The Irish tax year is from January 1st to December 31st and you have up to four years to claim any overpaid tax back.

If you're working in Ireland in 2010: We can apply for your tax refund at the end of the tax year or mid-year if you leave the country permanently so register online today for your Irish tax forms and send them in once you leave work.

If you worked in Ireland between 2006 and 2009: We can apply for your Irish income tax refund now so let us get the process underway today.

PRSI refunds: We can apply for your PRSI refund as far back as 2006 so don't miss out – apply online today.

How much money will I get back?

Taxback.com will get you back as much overpaid Irish tax as is legally possible. That amount depends on factors like:

Your earnings
Your expenses
How long you worked for

The average refunds we get for our Irish tax clients are €840 for PAYE and €320 for PRSI.

Try our FREE online tax refund calculator to see how much cash you could get back.

Can I claim my medical and dental expenses?

If you've paid qualifying health and dental expenses during the tax year, such as doctor's visits or laser eye surgery not completely covered by your VHI/Bupa/Vivas or insurance provider, taxback.com can claim tax relief on these expenses for you.

Examples of medical expenses:

Costs of doctors' and consultants' fees
Items and treatments prescribed by a doctor/consultant such as drugs and medicine, hearing aids, physiotherapy, wheelchairs, diagnostic procedures, orthopaedic treatments
Hospital treatment
Laser eye surgery
Speech and language therapy
Transport by ambulance
Maternity care

Examples of dental treatments:

Bridgework
Crowns
Veneers
Root canal treatment
Surgical extraction of wisdom teeth

Make sure you keep your receipts and bills from these expenses.

Can I get rent relief?

If you're renting private accommodation in Ireland you may be eligible for rent relief. Relief for single persons under 55 is €400 for 2008 and will be granted by way of a tax credit at the standard rate of income tax.

Taxback.com can claim your rent tax credits and to do so we'll need information including:

The tenancy dates and address
The weekly/monthly amount of rent you were paying
The name and address of your landlord

Can I claim back my tuition fees?

If you're studying in Ireland, you may be able to claim tax relief on your tuition fees. Tax relief is available for:

Certain full-time and part-time undergraduate courses of at least 2 years duration. The relief applies to fees up to €5,000.
Certain training courses in the areas of information technology and foreign languages. The relief applies to fees ranging from €315 to €1,270.
Certain postgraduate courses effective from 2000.

To qualify for tuition tax relief, your course must be an approved course at an approved college. Get a free refund estimation and find out if your course will qualify.

Taxback.com can claim your tuition tax relief for you.

Can I claim back bin and water service charges?

If you pay charges on bin or water services you may be able to claim tax credits of up to €400. Qualifying services are those paid to local authorities for domestic water supply, refuse collection and sewage disposal. To be eligible you must have paid your charges on time and in full in the year you wish to claim for.

Taxback.com can claim your service charges back.

Can I claim back my trade union fees?

If you've paid subscription fees to a Trade Union you may be eligible for up to €70 of trade union subscription relief. To be eligible you must be a member of a qualifying trade union so make sure you know the name of the union and the amount you paid so we can get it back for you.

What about one parent family tax credit?

The one parent family tax credit is available where an individual (whether widowed, single, divorced or separated) has a dependent child/children living with them for all or part of the tax year. The tax relief is €1830 for 2008 and to qualify you must meet the following criteria:

You must not be entitled to the Married Personal Tax Credit
You must not be living with another person as husband and wife
The child must be under 18 years of age or if over 18 years of age the child much be in full-time education or permanently incapacitated.

I have an incapacitated child – can I get tax credits?

The incapacitated child tax credit can be claimed by a parent or guardian if they have a child who is permanently incapacitated either physically or mentally from maintaining himself or herself.

To qualify, the child must have become incapacitated before turning 21-years-old or, if older than 21, have been in full-time education or training for a trade or profession for a minimum of two years when they became permanently incapacitated.

To apply for this tax credit, we'll need documentation including:

The child's name
Date of Birth
Information on the incapacity
Details of the child's income

In some cases a medical certificate may also be required.

Do I have to file a tax return?

If you earn any extra income in Ireland outside of your income as a PAYE employee, you will need to declare it by filing a self-assessment tax return at the end of the tax year. Extra income includes:

Rental income
Capital gains
Foreign income
Dividends

What is PRSI?

When you work in Ireland, your employer deducts Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) from your earnings. PRSI is made up of social insurance and health contributions. The social insurance part goes to social insurance funds to pay for social welfare and benefits in Ireland. The health contribution part goes to the Department of Health and Children to help fund health services in Ireland.

Even if you aren't due a PAYE refund, you may still be able to claim back some of the PRSI you paid. Our customers get an average PRSI refund of €320.

How long will it take to get my Irish tax refund?

As soon as we have it, you'll have it, because we contact you immediately when we receive your refund from the tax office to organise the easiest way to get it to you.

You can watch the step-by-step progress of your application on your online account. It'll go something like this:

When we get your documents it takes us just 1-3 working days to get your Irish tax return ready. This includes:

Receiving and checking the documents
Estimating your refund
Completing your forms
Sending them to the tax office

Once at the tax office your application will take about 6-8 weeks for PAYE returns, depending on how busy the office is. For PRSI refunds, it takes a sluggish six months to process but don't worry - our tax team will keep chasing the tax office to see how your application is progressing.

As soon as the tax office sends us your refund, we'll contact you to sort out the best way to get your cash straight to you.

The total estimated time for your Ireland tax rebate is 6-8 weeks.

How does taxback.com work?

Here's how our easy three-step service works:

Send us your documents and signed forms. We'll estimate your refund and give you an online tracking account. If you're missing any documents we can get replacements for you.

Chill out while we file your tax return and get you the maximum possible legal refund.

How do I know what's happening with my tax return?

You can follow the progress of your Irish tax return on your online tracking account. It allows you to see every step of your application. As soon as we have your refund we'll contact you to sort out the best way to get your money straight to you.

Rather talk to a human being? We have staff available to talk to you in 26 taxback.com offices in 19 different countries. Click here to find your local office number or use our Live Chat.

What are the advantages of using taxback.com?

Thousands of people choose our service because:

We get you the maximum legal refund
FREE online refund estimations
Every customer gets a Personal Online Tracking Account – you can follow your tax return every step of the way
All our Irish tax returns are legal and compliant with Ireland's tax laws.
Document retrieval service
24-hour customer support and tax refund help
Free phone, free fax, free online tax help with our live chat!
No language barriers - our services are available in: Bulgarian, Chinese, Chinese-Taiwanese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, and Ukrainian.
Money sent worldwide and in your local currency. You can get your refund in: Australian Dollars, Brazilian Reals, Bulgarian Lev, Canadian Dollars, Czech Koruna, Euro, Hong Kong Dollar, Indonesian Rupiah, Japanese Yen, Latvian Lat, Lithuanian Litas, Moldovan Lei, New Zealand Dollars, Norwegian Krona, Pakistan Rupee, Peruvian Nuevo Soles, Philippine Peso, Polish Zloty, Romanian Lei, Russian Rubles, Singaporean Dollar, Slovak Koruna, South African Rands, South Korean Won, Swedish Krona, Thai Baht, Turkish Lira, UK Pounds, Ukrainian Hryvna, US Dollars.

How much will it cost?

First of all, our FREE Online Tax Estimation costs you nothing - just a few minutes to fill it out. We'll email your refund estimation straight to your personal email with no obligation to use our service.

When you send us your documents and signed forms, we'll evaluate your refund and what additional services you need such as document retrieval. Then we'll let you know how much it will cost to file your return for you.,

For Irish tax refunds we charge 10% + levy of the refund received, subject to a minimum processing fee of €40 + levy.

Why the minimum fee?

Our fee covers all the things that make filing your application with us so easy such as:

Customer support 24/7 by phone and Live Chat
Online tracking service in seven languages
Free phone and free fax
Local staff to meet you and guide you through the process in 18 offices worldwide
Tax technicians
Researchers to identify new legal developments to maximise your refunds
Quality team

Oops - I lost my documents/Help - I never got my documents – what do I do?

We know it's easy to lose documents in the move back home or to not even receive them in the first place. That's why we have a dedicated document retrieval team who deal with employers all over the world and can organise replacement documents for you.

What is a P45?

To claim your Irish tax rebate, we need your P45 or your P60. A P45 is the official tax form that you get from your employer when you finish working for them. It outlines your earnings and the amount of taxes that you paid for that employer. If you leave your job to start another one in Ireland, you'll need to give your P45 to your next employer so make sure you keep a copy for yourself.

If you've misplaced your P45 or you never received it, our document retrieval team can obtain one for you.

What is a P60?

We can use either your P60 or your P45 to claim your Irish tax refund. A P60 is the tax certificate you receive from your employer in January after the tax year ends. It shows your earnings, tax paid and PRSI contributions deducted in that tax year.

If you've misplaced your P60 or you never received it, our document retrieval team can obtain one for you.

I'm new to Ireland - how can I get my PPS number?

If you've just arrived in Ireland you will need a Personal Public Service (PPS) number to work and pay taxes in Ireland. Registering for a PPS number can be a time-consuming and complicated process if you're new to the country and don't have a permanent address yet.

Taxback.com can assist you in getting your PPS number and Irish bank account fast through our partner company Visa First. There is a fee of €30 for this service. Apply online today.

I'm new to Ireland - how can I set up an Irish bank account?

Banks in Ireland require proof of address, a letter of employment or a utility bill in your name in order for you to open an account with them. This can be very difficult if you've just arrived in the country and are still finding your feet.

Taxback.com is partnered with one of Ireland's biggest banks – Bank of Ireland – through our partner company Visa First and can assist you in opening your account.

There is a fee of €30 for this service, and assistance with your PPS number is included. Apply online for your Irish bank account and PPS pack today.

Can I do it myself?

Every tax office in the world is set up to accept applications directly from taxpayers so yes, you can file your return yourself. The reality is though once you submit it, there's no updating process and no feedback until you get a yes or a no, which is frustrating and very worrying.

Preparing your Irish tax return will involve getting all the tax forms and trying to put all the information together properly – and it's not as easy as it looks.

The Irish tax system is very complex and filing their own tax return is a challenge that many Irish citizens don't even attempt themselves.

At the end of the day ask yourself -
Would I wire my own house?
The reality is no, I wouldn't - I'd use an electrician.
It's a technical, professional piece of work, so I'd get a technical professional to do the job properly. I don't want to risk my house blowing up!

It's the same with tax. Our taxback.com customers rely on us as technical professionals to file their Irish returns and get their tax back. Last year we filed 4500 Irish tax refund claims. Our customers tell us they knew trying to file it themselves would lead to stress and a possible loss of money in refunds. They'd rather focus on their university courses, their day-job or, more importantly, on enjoying a pint at the local pub.

Filing your return yourself won't make your house explode, but it can result in lots of stress and leave you out of pocket if you miss out on refunds you're owed.

It's easier for you to let us put our 11 years of experience filing tax returns to good use by doing all the work for you. It makes sense to use an expert.

Just use our FREE online refund calculator to see how much tax you could get back.

Can you guarantee that I'll receive the refund amount you estimated for me?

No, but we do guarantee to get you the most money back that we legally can.

Our estimate is based on your documents and our experience in filing thousands of tax returns every week since 1996. Naturally, the Irish tax authority has the final decision in your tax refund based on their systems and tax codes.

When our tax technicians prepare and file your return, they check for any allowances or benefits you could get and ensure we apply for the maximum rebate possible.

What's the difference between filing my tax return and getting my tax refund?

We file your Ireland tax return in order to organise your tax refund.

A tax return is the annual submission of tax forms documenting your earnings, taxes paid, deductable expenses and allowances that you send to the tax office for review. They review it according to the information submitted by your employer and the current laws that apply to your case.

If you get a tax refund, this means the tax office review found you had overpaid Irish tax and were due some back.

Our estimate of your refund is based on our prediction of what the tax office will decide when they review your tax return - providing they have the same information as us.

Use our FREE online refund estimator to see how much tax you could get back.

I've worked abroad in other countries - can you help me to claim refunds from these countries?

Absolutely! We've been organising tax refunds for people working all over the world since 1996. If you've worked in any of the following countries click on them to apply for your refund!

Australia tax refund	Austria tax refund	Belgium tax refund
Canada tax refund	Denmark tax refund	Germany tax refund
Gibraltar tax refund	Guernsey tax refund	Holland tax refund
Japan tax refund	Luxembourg tax refund	New Zealand tax refund
Norway tax refund	UK tax refund	US tax refund

Our research team is constantly developing tax return services for new markets so if you've worked in a country not mentioned above, email our team on newtaxes@taxback.com to see what we can do for you.