It’s becoming more and more common these days for people to receive notice from Revenue that they have an underpayment and owe Revenue extra tax money. This prompts endless questions…

• What does that mean?
• How did this happen?
• Doesn’t my employer look after this?
• How am I going to pay them back?

…none of which are answered by Revenue and so, through fear and frustration, many people start paying back their unpaid taxes.

Stop right there!

Before you pay any additional money to Revenue, you should always get your taxes checked by an expert.

All too often, I see cases where at first it appears a person will owe money to Revenue, but when I dig a little further, there are errors on Revenue’s record or tax credits that the customer hasn’t claimed. Revenue don’t tell you about these – all they do is balance the information they have. So if it is wrong, or you haven’t notified them of any changes, then the P21 balancing statement is not going to be correct.

Here’s an example I had recently:

A 68 year old man contacted Red Oak after receiving a notice from Revenue that he had underpaid taxes to the sum of €1,991 in 2012. After reviewing his application and the details Revenue held, I also discovered smaller underpayments in 2009 and 2010.

The client had a dependent wife who was on social welfare and as all payments were going to him, this has triggered the underpayments in Revenue’s system.

After doing a full review of the couple’s taxes, I noticed that their total income was within the range that would grant the husband a partial exemption from income tax due to the fact that he was over 65 years. By applying this exemption, the underpayments for 2009, 2010 and 2012 were cleared and I was able to secure a refund of over €2,000 for the client.

It pays to get a second opinion

The truth is, in many instances, the underpayment has been caused by some sort of error or there are tax credits that haven’t been applied which will clear any unpaid taxes. So, it’s always worth getting a second opinion to make sure that Revenue have calculated your taxes correctly.

Unfortunately, there are still a few instances where the underpayments are correct and in those cases, we can help advise of the best course of action to help you get your taxes in order.

To get an expert second opinion on your taxes, contact us today.

Written by Sarah Bambrick

I’ve worked at Red Oak for almost a year and have discovered the hidden thrill of finding Revenue’s mistakes. I studied Law at DCU, so I have a keen eye for detail. As a Tax Agent, my job is to ensure that all my customers get everything they are entitled to.