If you are reading this in January you are probably trying to figure out if there are ways to help you get over a super long month … maybe you are due a refund from revenue.ie ? Or maybe you are reading this and you are new to the Irish PAYE system, or maybe you have never claimed before and you have decided to up your game a little( yes, a deposit for your dream holiday could be on the cards!!)
Looking for Cycle Trails in South Galway, check out the loops I have documented so far here !
I recently did my ITR (Income Tax Return) on-line, and was pleasantly surprised I was due a refund from revenue.ie! The good part was, it was quite easy and it took only 3 days to get the refund from revenue.ie in my account.Read on to find out if you are due a refund from revenue.ie by doing your Income Tax returns ( ITR) online for the previous year(s). I say years as if you have never done an Income Tax Return before ,you can go back 4 years. Hurray 🙂 Wouldn’t be nice to get a refund from revenue.ie ?
Groundwork to do before you start the refund claim process
I know, you are itching to press buttons who doesn’t want to find out if they are due a refund from revenue.ie … let’s get organized 🙂 Before you even start registering, to find out if you are due a refund from Irish Revenue, I would do the following groundwork!
Start collecting all your bills :
->>Medical bills ( Doctor’s bill and health Insurance bills) , Tuition charges, nursing charges and if you are working remotely, your Broadband and Energy bills
>>Put them in a physical folder and take a picture of them if you haven’t got them electronically already.
->> If you are all new to this, I would recommend you start an online bills folder in Google Photos or any other solution such as DropBox or Microsoft One Drive.
TIP : I use Google Photos a lot, and as soon as I take a picture, it gets uploaded to my Google Photos account. To find out how to set that up on your phone, click here and select Android or Iphone. Once you have the picture, you will then be able to upload it to the Receipt Tracker on revenue.ie and any other places you may need to receipt to claim a refund.
Luckily these days many of the bills already come in electric format, so it’s just a matter then to download the document so you can then upload it on the revenue.ie website, so you can claim your refund. Particularly for medical bills, you may need to upload it multiple times to claim a refund, more about that later.
So where do you start to find out if you are due a refund from Irish Revenue?
Register at revenue.ie – Check out this video
There are a number of videos on their Youtube Channel that will help you to find out if you are due a refund from Irish Revenue and detailed instructions for various situations.
Select to do your Income Tax return ( Automatic)
If you haven’t claimed for 2021/2020 yet, you’ll see an option in the portal that offers you an automatic calculation of your Tax Return, based on the details they already know such as your salary and your tax credits. (not including medical expenses)
Did you know :
- If due to covid ( or any other reason), you were unemployed in 2020/2021 and got a new job since, you are very likely due a refund from revenue.ie The reason is that the monthly tax-free allowance assumes you work the full year. If therefore you only worked 20%, you are due a prorated refund from revenue.ie Keep on reading to find out how you can increase your refund.
- If you were so lucky to get married in 2021, you may well be due a refund too from revenue.ie ( more holiday money 🙂
Check out this video that gives you all the steps !
Have you Checked your Tax Credits, Reliefs and Exemptions.
There are all kinds of ways to reduce your tax bill through a tax credit, a relief and an exemption. The explanation of each can be found here. To find out what you can claim for, check out this article.
Have you added all our Health/Medical Expenses, you may well be due a refund from revenue.ie
In the past, claiming health expenses involved a cumbersome process of filling in a Med1 form you had to return by Post. A new feature has been added recently for Health expenses! They can be claimed now through your Income Tax (IT) return, making it that much easier to get a refund from Irish Revenue, using the Receipt tracker. Check out below video on how to use the new receipt tracker .
Find out about Health Insurance Premiums that either you or your employer pay and the reliefs where available. Particularly when your employer pays your health insurance, you may not be aware that you can claim a tax relief, as you are getting taxed at source for receiving this Benefit in Kind. You’ll need to go quite detailed and specify the contribution that is made per member of your family, all to be found in the policy of your Health Insurance Provider. Health insurance can run into a few thousand euros a year, so it’s worth doing it.
Don’t forget, If you have been/are going to the doctor, ask for a receipt. This receipt will come in handy when you do your Income Tax Return, regardless of whether you have health insurance or not. I say doctor, but there are many other health expenses that qualify, check out this article for more details.
Question : My employer pays for my health Insurance, and I have a consultant’s receipt for 150 Euros. I uploaded it with my insurer and they paid me 75 Euros. What do I do next?
Answer : Use the same receipt, upload it on the receipt tracker on the website of revenue.ie Add a new claim by clicking on “manage your Tax 2022” >Add a new Credit > health >expand all >Select Health Expenses >> enter Gross relief( total amount you paid) >> Add your receipt.
You will then come to a screen where you can specify the total amount, amount claimed elsewhere and the amount you wish to claim for. It is in that box you enter ( in this example) 75 Euros.
Nursing care expenses to consider
If you or your spouse or civil partner need nursing home care, there are schemes you can apply for.
Nursing Home Expenses Relief You can claim tax relief on the nursing home expenses you pay for.
- Nursing Home (Fair Deal) Loan Scheme : The Nursing Home, or Fair Deal Loan Scheme is run by the Health Service Executive (HSE). The scheme offers financial support to people who need long-term nursing home care. See the Nursing home (Fair Deal) Loan Scheme section for more information.
- Exemption relating to medical expenses of incapacitated persons : You may be permanently incapacitated due to physical or mental illness. If you are, any gift or inheritance you receive to pay your medical expenses is exempt from Gift and Inheritance Tax. This can include the cost of your nursing home care.
You can learn more about this exemption in Exemption for qualifying expenses related to physical or intellectual disability.
Are you availing of (all) Flat Rate Expenses ?
Do take a look at the Flat Rate Expenses you may qualify for a flat rate expense that increases your tax credit. Whether you are a teacher, a radiographer, a shop assistant, a plumber/welder, a member of the philharmonic orchestra, nearly all hotel-related jobs, your job is associated with a flat rate expense you can apply for.
Remote Working Relief ( E-Working), you may well be due a refund from revenue.ie
Some employers pay their remote employees a daily amount. This is however not a benefit an employer has to pay. It’s worth to enquire with the HR Department if your company offers this “additional” benefit.
For all other remote employees, you can claim a percentage for broadband and energy expenses.
Until recently, you could only claim at the end of the year, and as the amounts are low, it was a big effort to collect all the bills and upload them. So really, a pain in the neck if you ask me.
Fast forward to 2022 and there are a few changes… the energy percentage was only 10%, this has been increased to 30% in budget 2022. With rising energy costs, this is one to keep in mind. You can upload your bills as you get them in the receipt tracker in your account ( The app has been deactivated) and the credit gets applied instantly ( so you will see a small increase in your salary) aka “ Instant Credits” Or see it as a small bonus you’ll get in January if you do your tax return then, the choice is yours 🙂
Education : Tuition charges
Are you upskilling by learning a foreign language or improving your IT skills?
- You will receive relief at the standard rate of tax, 20%. Relief is available for the cost of courses where the fees cost between €315 and €1,270.
- The list of Approved foreign language courses and providers contains all of the approved foreign language courses.
- The list of Approved information technology courses and providers contains all of the approved information technology (IT) courses.
Tuition fees paid 3rd level education
Follow this link to find out how you can claim and approved courses and colleges
You can claim tax relief on qualifying fees (including the student contribution) that you have paid for third level education courses. The qualifying fees must be paid for an approved course at an approved college.
The maximum amount you can claim is €7,000 per course, per person, per academic year.
Each claim is subject to a single disregard amount of €3,000 or €1,500 each tax year.
The first €3,000 is disregarded for of a full-time student or €1,500 for of a part-time student. If you have paid fees for more that one student, this disregard amount will only be deducted from your claim once.
Good luck doing your tax returns, and hope you are getting a refund!
Katleen
