Refer-a-friend prize close date
Posted on | March 26, 2010 | No Comments
Today is the closing date for our Refer-a-Friend competition, the winner of which will receive a tasty €500.
We will be making the draw for the winner in 4 weeks time, as one of the conditions of entry is a refund needs to be due and it takes a little time to check these things! But we look forward to informing the winner.
Best wishes,
John
income levy refunds
Posted on | February 2, 2010 | 4 Comments
People start thinking about Income Levy Refunds!
2009 saw the Income Levy introduced and most people will not have thought about checking for Income Levy refunds. especially as this is new, mistakes will have been made by employers out there, so it’s really important to get the levy calculations double-checked.
Here are Eight reasons why you might be due an Income Levy refund:
- If you held a Medical Card at any stage in 2009, then you are due a refund of any Income Levy paid. This means that even Income Levy amounts paid during the parts of the year when you did not have the medical card are available for refunds.
- If you are over 65 and your gross income for the year is below €20,000 for a single person and €40,000 for a married, you can claim a refund of an Income levies paid.
- Income Levy is charged on the pay received each pay period and not on the year to date amounts (like Income Tax). No refunds of Income levy are made during the year. At the end of the year, if you were with the same employer all year, they should have calculated your Income Levy due on your annual pay and refunded any extra amounts paid. As this is the first year Income Levy is in place, it’s important to check this happened!
- If you changed employer during the year, then your employer at the end of the year does not check for Income Levy refunds. Each employer you had in the year should have given you an Income Levy Certificate. Definately get these checked for overpayments!
- Where you worked part of the year earning over €289 a week, but earned less than €15,028 in the whole year, then you will be due an Income levy refund.
- If you received a redundancy payment and paid Income Levy, this is refundable – just check that the payment was deemed a ‘redundancy’ payment.
- If your pay is ‘lumpy’ due to payment of commission or bonuses irregularly, your income levy rate may have varied during the year – you could be due a refund of this.
- Certain Incomes are exempt from Income levy, such as rent-a-room income and child benefit (see the full list below)
There are a lot of people who will fit into one of the categories above. We will check your Income levy as part of an Income Tax Refund Claim – you just need to include the Income Levy certificates received in the year. We can also check for PRSI and Health Levy Refunds.
Now the really small print – those exempt incomes. some odd bits and pieces in there!
| Interest on savings certificates |
| Exemption from BIK – Travel Pass, new bicycle scheme |
| Distributions to certain non-residents |
| Payments in respect of personal injuries |
| Special trust for permanently incapacitated |
| Haemophilia Trust |
| Hepatitis C |
| Thalidomide |
| Exemption in respect of certain payment under employment law |
| Foster Care Payment |
| Income from Scholarships |
| Child benefit |
| Early Childcare Supplement |
| Exemption in respect of certain expense payments |
| Expenses of members of Judiciary |
| State Employees: Foreign Service Allowance |
| Employee of certain agencies: foreign service allowances |
| Bonus or interest paid under instalment savings schemes |
| Certain interest not to be chargeable |
| Interest on certain securities |
| Certain foreign pensions |
| Basic and increased exemptions in respect of tax under section 123 (Redundancy) including SCSB |
| Relief for agreed pay restructuring |
| Payments in respect of Redundancy |
| Military & other pensions, gratuities and allowances |
| Veterans of war of independence |
| Rent a Room relief |
| Scéim na bhFoghlaimeoirí Gaeilge |
| Childcare service relief |
| Shares appropriated under Approved Profit Sharing Schemes |
| Shares under Savings Related Share Option Schemes (SAYE) |
| Shares under Approved Share Option Schemes |
10 things you should know about your 2009 P60
Posted on | January 18, 2010 | No Comments
P60 2009
Welcome to 2010, your post will now start to bristle with all that 2009 summary post. Here, we’ll go through the main document you will receive around now and what it’s for.
2009 P60
Probably the most important and most talked about bit of post you will receive this time of year is your P60. Here are 8 things you should know about your P60:
- Your P60 is your summary of your Pay and Income Tax for that year.
- It will have all your pay from your current employer, but will also show the pay and tax from previous jobs if you gave a copy of your P60 to your current employer.
- Details of PRSI paid (including Health levy) by you and the employer is on the left hand side.
- In the PRSI section, they also include number of weeks contribution – this is very important from a social welfare point of view as it can affect your entitlements
- It does not show the Income Levy you have paid. For this you should get a separate Income Levy Certificate from your employer.
- Your P60 is prepared and given to you by your employer. They will also declare it to the Revenue Commissioners, but you should still make sure you hold on to your copy!
- If you are not working at the end of the year, you will not receive a P60 ( no employer), but the P45 you received from your last employer holds the same information. The main difference between a P60 and a P45 is that a P60 is given by the employer you are with at the end of the year, while a P45 is given by an employer you left during the year.
- P60’s are also issued by pension funds for the income you receive from a non state pension.
- The amount of Tax credits and tax bands given to you is shown at the top. Can you figure out what’s included here? It should agree to the latest tax credits cert you received in that year.
- The amount of Tax Credits used is given to your employer by Revenue. This does not mean it’s correct and it is often out of date – we will of course check this for you. If this is wrong, then you are likely due a refund!
Claiming Tax Back – What’s New
Posted on | January 12, 2010 | 4 Comments
If you are looking to claim a tax back for 2009, the picture has changed somewhat from previous years. Some of the changes will mean you are due less of a tax refund, other changes have increased the amount of of tax back that can be reclaimed.
These are these main changes:
More Refunds
You are still allowed tax refunds for items like Rent Relief, Employment expenses, Trade Union subscriptions, Bin charges, as a stay at home parent and medical insurance, but additional refunds are likely for:
- Income Levy: If your pay varied during the year due to bonuses or times when you weren’t working you could be due a refund of income levy paid. Make sure you have an income levy certificate for each job and we can check this for you as part of a refund application.
- Health Levy: The Health Levy was double in 2009, so double the refund potential to €1,040. send us all your P60 and P45’s for the year with the refund application and we can check these.
Less Refunds
The cost of medicines was a big issue in 2009 and we have been hit with an increase in the minimum charge in the Drugs Payment Scheme and new prescription charges for medical card holders. Your Tax refund potential for medical expenses has also been hit, with the maximum amount you can get back reduced from 41% to 20%.
Apply now
Why not get your Income Tax, PRSI, Health Levy and Income Levy checked for tax refunds in one easy step. You can download our application form now, call us on 01-4428829 or contact us for more information.
Tags: claim tax back > health levy refunds > income levy refunds > reclaim tax > tax back 2009 > Tax Refunds
CGT Payment Deadlines
Posted on | January 5, 2010 | No Comments
If you made a Capital Gain in 2009, you should be aware that the payment deadlines changed in 2009.
For gains made between 1st January 2009 and 30th November 2009, the “Initial Period”, CGT payments should have been made by the 15th December 2009.
While for gains made between 1st December 2009 and 31st December 2009, the “Later Period”, CGT payments should be made by the 31st January.
Budget 2010 – Drug Payment Scheme
Posted on | December 10, 2009 | 1 Comment
The cost of using the Drugs Payment Scheme has increased once again in this budget, though it has been little publicised to date. The Maximum monthly spend on prescriptions you will have to pay for yourself has increased from €100 to €120.
Over a year, this will add an additional €240 to the cost of your medicines per our Budget Calculator. Check this out for yourself.
Medical Card holders were also hit in this budget, with the introduction of a charge on prescriptions of €0.50 per prescription.
Budget 2010 Child Benefit cut
Posted on | December 9, 2009 | 3 Comments
Child Benefit has been cut in the 2010 budget. For the first two children, the rate has been cut from €166 a month to €150 for each child. If you have more than 2 children, the amount you receive for the additional kids has been cut from €203 to €187.
Find out how the Budget has affected you in our Budget 2010 Calculator by clicking here
It was expected that Child Benefit would be made taxable in this budget, but the Minister of Finance Quoted legal considerations in not implementing it in that fashion.
Budget 2010 Public sector pay cuts
Posted on | December 9, 2009 | 1 Comment
In todays Budget 2010, Brian Lenihan announced Public Sector pay Cuts.
Check out our Budget calculator for details of the pay cuts and how they will affect you.
The Budget calculator will be updated after the budget annoucement this evening.
The pay cuts as apply to most Public Sector employees are as follows:
For salaries of Great than €125,ooo, different rates are applied from an 8% flat rate up to a special Taoieach rate of 20%.
What do you think of these Changes?
Are you the Limiting Factor?
Posted on | December 7, 2009 | No Comments
Are you the Limiting Factor in your Business?
“You are the Limiting Factor” is a new book by an Irish Author and top Irish Business consultant Blaise Brosnan.
“You are the Limiting Factor” as a title is not the start of some self-bashing exercise. The purpose neatly conveyed through out the book is to realise that you as an individual can control your businesses destiny. It helps boost confidence through useful techniques and evaluations that are so easy to apply to your own business.
Just a slight word of warning: This is not bedtime reading. I spent a few sleepless nights buzzing with ideas after reading a chapter or two, that the book like my coffee has been consigned to the “Not after 9pm” rule.
You can find out more here, happy reading all!
Budget 2010 & Childcare Supplement
Posted on | December 6, 2009 | No Comments
A lot of the focus in the upcoming budget will focus on Child Benefit, your childcare supplement payments will be affected in 2010.
While the Childcare supplement will not form part of the Budget 2010 proposals, it is worth remembering that from January you will not be receiving Childcare supplements previously existing for children under 6.
The Early Childcare Supplement was halved to €500 from May 1st last and will no longer be paid in 2010 as part of the April 09 Budget update.
Health Levy & Reducing it’s impact on your Salary
Posted on | November 30, 2009 | 3 Comments
A few weeks ago we spoke about how fundamentals errors in the implementation of the Health Levy could result in a €1,000 gross pay rise could result in less money in your pocket after tax. We hope the government clears up the impact of this in the forthcoming budget. There are ways of decreasing the impact of the health levy on your pocket in these marginal cases if the government allow this to continue post budget.
In the following descriptions, I will refer to being paid on a weekly basis, but the same stands for those paid on a monthly basis.
Whereas Income Tax is charged on a Year to date basis (effectively your tax is calculated as the difference between last weeks and this weeks total tax calculation), Health Levy is calculated each week for the pay that week and with no reference to what has happened in previous weeks.
It is completely black and white in this regard. So a person earning €501 a week will be charged Health Levy at 4% (€20), a person on €499 a week will have no health levy bill and thus take home more dough off a smaller pay.
The fact that previous history is not taken into account can be used to your advantage. Say you are on €550 a week. You will be charged 4% every week, which is €22 a week, €88 every 4 weeks and €1,144 a year. Why not have a chat with your boss and agree a new pay deal. under this new deal, you get paid €500 a week under this deal and then every 4th week you get the €50’s back, so get paid €700. With this deal, for 3 weeks you pay no health levy and in the 4th week you pay 4% on the €700 which is €28 in total for the 4 weeks and only €364 a year. This is a saving of €780.
You could go further with this deal of course and arrange that you receive a standard €500 a week and an annual bonus in just one week for the remainder - now that would definately depend on your having a good relationship with you employer.
In writing this a large part of me thinks it wrong to propose means to reduce the amount of revenue available to our government at a time it’s really needed, but there is a serious injustice being done to people when a pay rise can leave you worse off. Hopefully we’ll see the government tackle this in the fortcoming December 9th Budget and consign this suggestion to irrelevance.
GP Locums subject to PAYE Tax
Posted on | November 20, 2009 | 1 Comment
Courtesty of the Irish Medical Times, here is some important information for GP’s who hire locums for out of hours cover and indeed for the locums themselves:
http://www.imt.ie/news/2009/11/locums_must_have_paye_deducted.html
This will have a large impact on both the doctors and the locums. Under PAYE the doctors will have to deduct PRSI, Health levy and income levy for the locums. For the locums it will impact the expenses they can claim under self-employment, but on the other hand they will be able to utilise their PAYE tax credit if not being used elsewhere, which is an additional €1,830 tax credit.
While the medical profession are appealing this it is very unlikely they will be successful. Pharmacist locums for instance worked on the same basis until a crackdown in that sector 6-12 months ago and they now operate on a PAYE basis.
Income Tax Deadline Nov 2009
Posted on | November 10, 2009 | No Comments
RedOakTaxRefunds Latest News. Don’t forget that the income tax filing deadline for self-assesed persons is next Monday. For all of you who thought there was a lot of time left (like some of our clients!) I can tell you we’re very definately in the closing straight now! so sort out those final bits and pieces and submit straightaway.
How a pay rise can leave you worse off
Posted on | November 2, 2009 | 3 Comments
You can be up to €1,040 worse off for increase in salary in Health Levy fiasco.
Tax system means a €1,000 pay rise can leave you €290 worse off depending on how much you earn.
Lets see this in action and compare your take home pay from earning €25,000 versus €26,000.
So unbelievably a €1,000 payrise will leave you €290 worse off.
How does this Happen?
The Government loves levies. First PRSI, then the Health Levy and more recently we have learned to doff caps to the Income Levy in every payslip.
In the excitement of the Income Levy, don’t forget that the Health Levy was also increased in the last budget from a basic rate of 2% up to 4%.
Details
With the Health Levy, you do not have to pay this until you earn more than €500 a week, equivalent to €26,000 a year. However once you earn a penny over this limit, your FULL pay is charged the Health Levy.
Effectively, if you earn one cent over the €500 a week, you will be hit with an annual charge of €1,040, (€26,000 times 4%). Ouch!
Action needed.
It is critical that the government act to remove this anomaly in the tax system. There has been a lot of talk this year from the taxation commission and politicians that we need to create a more equitable tax system, fairer to everybody. It is essential that in the 2010 Budget this December 9 that this issue is dealt with as a priority.
Reduce the pain.
Of course there are ways to reduce the impact of this on your take home pay if you have a flexible employer, which we will look at in a later post.
Tags: budget 2010 > health levy > income levy > income tax > prsi > Tax Commission
Revenue chase CGT for 2008 house sales
Posted on | October 31, 2009 | 2 Comments
Did you sell a property in 2008? If you sold a non principal private residence (non-PPR) last year and have not declared or paid Capital Gains Tax, you will probably have received a letter in the post from Revenue last week informing you that payments was due by the 31st October. Details on the Revenue submission here.
If you are calculating the CGT yourself, dont forget to include indexation of the purchase cost if allowed, as well as include your relevant purchase and sales cost. If you need help with the submission, you can contact us via our contact form or on 01-4428829
CGT Treatment of Anglo Irish Bank Share Losses
Posted on | October 28, 2009 | No Comments
As an Anglo Irish Bank Shareholder, the value of your stake in the bank was not finalised on the nationalisation of the bank earlier this year. According to Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan an assessor would be appointed at a future date to decide on the treatment.
However from a tax point of view, and in particular from a CGT perspective, the shares are being treated as being of negligible value and as such a CGT loss can be calculated and used in 2009 as an offset against gains elsewhere.
Should a value be placed on the shares at a future point in time, then any disposal would then be made against a notional cost of zero. No need to hold your breath on that eventuality occurring though.
This treatment of Anglo shares could be very helpful to you in terms of your tax planning, in particular if you are considering disposal of shares for a gain.
Tags: anglo > anglo irish > anglo irish bank > capital gains > cgt > dividend > dividend tax > dividends > dividends tax > income tax > tax
Thanks for the thanks!
Posted on | October 14, 2009 | No Comments
We don’t normally publish feedback we get from our customers, but we were especially delighted with the following from Michelle and couldn’t resist!
“Thanks a million for all your help over the past few weeks.
Unfortunately I don’t have access to your facebook from my email, but I
would just like to say that I found your service to be fantastic.
Also it was great to deal with the
one person the entire time rather than different people, and you were
very good at keeping me updated at all time. I have done and will
continue to recommend your service.”
The reason we were especially happy with this feedback is because Michelle is a Customer Services trainer for a large Irish company. When a Customer Services professional tells you are doing it right, we’re delighted to hear we’re doing things the right way.
It also adds to the (always!) happy glow in the office. So thanks for the thanks Michelle!
Shopping for medical treatment
Posted on | October 9, 2009 | No Comments
Gone are the days when you would go to your local GP or dentist for all treatments, there is now a truly global industry in the provision of medical services. It doesn’t seem that long ago that pictures of Shane Warne’s newest hair transplant treatments were oddities that existed only in the sports pages of tabloids and down under!
Specialisations now exist in laser eye surgery, dental surgery and the different types of cosmetic surgery from invasive/non-invasive hair transplants treatments, botox, liposuction and so much more.
Smart Medical Shopping Tips
Here in Red Oak Tax Refunds we deal with a lot of clients who are great medicare shoppers and here are some of the tips we have learned from them.
Medical insurance
- Check your Insurance Coverage: Find out what’s available under your medical insurance. most of the Irish insurance companies are broadly similar in what they cover, but small differences do exist, so check these to see what best suits your circumstances. Which brings us to:
- Shop around for your medical insurance: Despite belief to the contrary, you do not lose any of your medical coverage by switching from one medical insurance scheme to another. But you could save money. Especially, if you have a child under one, get yourself re-insured for a year before their first birthday and your baby is free for a year!
Shopping for Medicare Abroad
- Get good recommendations: If you are going abroad, get your research in early. Whether it’s for dentists in the UK, Doctors in Europe or British cosmetic surgery clinics, a name that constantly pops up regarding finding excellent medicare providers are Revahealth.com
- Know the Tax Implications on Price: Most people know that they can get tax refunds for medical treatment performed in Ireland, but many don’t know that this also applies to treatment anywhere in the EU. So that means going to London in 2009 for dentistry will allow you to get a 20% tax refund, whereas getting the same treatment done in Turkey sadly will not get you a refund.
Know the Tax Implications
- Current year: As mentioned above, allowable medical treatments conducted anywhere in the EU (Ireland, UK, or elsewhere) can give you a tax refund of 20% of the cost. So just make sure the treatment is allowable!
- Previous years: If you have medical treatment receipts from previous years, then you could be due more back. Up to and including 2008 you can claim tax back at your highest tax rate (up to 42%). You can still claim tax refunds for treatment back to 2005.
Medicare is a booming industry, the internet having taken the fear out of the decision through providing great information. So make sure you use that info in making your choice.
Tags: claim tax back > cosmetic surgery > dental expenses > dental surgery > Medical Expenses > Medical Insurance > medicare > tax refund
10 things you should know about PRTB
Posted on | October 6, 2009 | No Comments
Landlords, have you registered your tenants with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB)
Here are ten very good reasons why landlords and tenant should make sure that tenancies are registered.
You can find out more about Rent and Tax here.
- It’s the Law: Unless you are availing of the rent-a-room relief scheme or other exemption, you have to do it. Hey, we, know, boring old law – but best to just sign up and forget about it!
- Exempt Properties: Other than the rent-a-room relief scheme, other exempt properties include local authority housing, holiday lets, rent free tenancies, houses in which the landlord is also resident and some tenancies to family members.
- The Cost: Registration costs €70 per tenancy, with the cost maxed at €300 for multiple tenancies in the same building. If you do not register your tenant within a Month, then the fee goes up to €140 per tenant.
- Re-registration: Each new tenancy must be registered, or if you have the same tenant for 4 years, you must re-register the tenancy agreement after 4 years.
- Changes in Tenancy Agreement: If changes are made to the tenancy agreement, the PRTB must be notified. changes include rent rates, a replacement tenant, but not duration – It’s assumed to continue until notice is given of its termination.
- Landlord Tax implications: If you do not have the tenancy registered, then you are not allowed to claim interest payments on loans on the property against your income. In most cases, this would have a huge impact on your tax bill for rental income which makes it really important to register.
- Confirmation of registration: As well as you the landlord, tenants will also receive confirmation of registration from the PRTB.
- Dispute Resolution #1: This is an benefit of registration. If tenants and Landlord are in dispute, then the PRTB offer a free dispute resolution service. This does get used – In january 2009 alone, 50 cases were brought to decision.
- Dispute Resolution #2: If a dispute is brought to decision and not appealed to the courts within 21 days, then the decision is final.
- How to Register: Registration is quite easy – you can download the application form from www.prtb.ie
Tags: Private Residential Tenancies board > property tax > prtb
September Fan Prize
Posted on | October 1, 2009 | No Comments
Entry to the September competition has closed and we are delighted to have 337 entries.
Now unfortunately not all entries are valid and some will have to be disallowed. Ali Behan, for example is a dog and not a real person (I know – I have met the mutt!) Now he’s a very interesting dog with interesting things to say, so does deserve a facebook page, but will not be winning the prize.
We’ll make the draw tomorrow and are delighted to have Kieran Comerford, assistance CEO of Carlow Enterprise Board making the draw.
Here’s a picture of the offending entrant as a treat.
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Welcome to the Red Oak Tax Refund Blog, where we will discuss money matters, tax and in particular tax refunds relating to PAYE employment in Ireland. If you have any topics you would like discussed, send us a mail to refunds@redoaktaxrefunds.ie and happy reading!.
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