Hypotectical situation ;)

L

larry1

Registered User
Messages
135
;) your wife who has been out of the workforce for 2 years receives a rebate income tax chq from the revenue. she lodges the chq but subsequently on closer examantion of the form , she realises that despite it being addressed to her and quoting her pps no, the details on the form relate to someone elses tax. A week later a letter arrives from the revenue informing of the error and requesting chq back. Money has cleared and is now in current account providing a happy xmas to a large family

1. Would you return by personal chq?
2. Tell them that u spent it and agree to pay them back 10 euro/ month
3. Play dumb on it altogether and hope for the best
 
Pay it back. Come to some arrangement if paying a lump sum would cause hardship/invonvenience. Playing dumb would be dumb. Not only will Revenue most likely force the issue but it could also encourage them to look at auditing some or all of the family if they have reason to suspect that they engage in fraud on a regular basis. How much is involved in this er, hypotectical (sic.), case?
 
rest of the family are under 5 so thats not really an issue. €4k.. just kills me to get something from the revenue and then have to return it ... hypotectically speaking of course.
So pay back full amount straight away or payments .. what u think?
 
larry1 said:
rest of the family are under 5 so thats not really an issue. €4k.. just kills me to get something from the revenue and then have to return it ... hypotectically speaking of course.
So pay back full amount straight away or payments .. what u think?
Click to expand...

It's not really your choice. It obviously has to be paid back. If the money is already spent, call the Revenue and ask for time to pay. For 4K they will hardly adjust your tax credits. If they set up an instalment arrangement, the interest rate charged is higher than the banks would charge so it's not cheap finance.

I would say they will want the money ASAP, no negotiations.
 
larry1 said:
rest of the family are under 5 so thats not really an issue.
Click to expand...
Revenue could decide to audit both you and your wife going back as many years as they see fit. Personally I think it's generally a good idea (apart from being a legal obligation) to try to keep one's tax affairs up to date and not play silly buggers with Revenue to avoid piquing their interests in one's affairs even if there is nothing to hide. Where tax refunds are clearly issued in error then it seems only fair and perhaps necessary to return the money.
So pay back full amount straight away or payments .. what u think?
Click to expand...
Personally I would pay it back in full but if a lump sum causes hardship then Revenue may be amenable to coming to some other arrangement for phased repayment.
 
Just rang the person who sent the letter and have written chq. Get this though, he told me just direct it to the collector general in Limerick for nonbodys attention but stick a note with it and ask them to not to refund again?? I told the guy that I just wanted to clear the matter up but didnt want 20 letters and phonecalls over the next year due to their own admin issues. He didnt sound too confident. So for their mistake, i can envisage many more calls etc etc.. BAH HUMBUG!
 
Writing an accompanying cover letter to go with the cheque to clearly explain the situation and including details of your own joint tax details (PPSNs) and details of the erroneous payment would seem to be the obvious thing to do rather than just sending in a cheque with a vague note.
 
ClubMan said:
Revenue could decide to audit both you and your wife going back as many years as they see fit.
Click to expand...

A revenue audit is not a pleasent experience, they will go through everything, all bank accounts, payments, receipts, etc, it can be an extremely stressful process.

Paying it back in full would be my suggestion, at least then you don't have it on your mind in 2007, should Revenue decide to audit you.
 
From previous dealings with them and being very clear and having paper trails, it will all boil down to the person who opens the envelope in Limerick. If they have a brain it will be sorted if they dont .. Grief!

Thanks for all the advice
 
larry1 said:
From previous dealings with them and being very clear and having paper trails, it will all boil down to the person who opens the envelope in Limerick. If they have a brain it will be sorted if they dont .. Grief!
Click to expand...

Don't think that's a fair comment as CG will not be aware of the problem.

Your local Insector already knows the refund was not due, so your balancing statement will already have been updated.

The note with your cheque should simply say "cheque received in error, please offset against 2005 PAYE/Income Tax/Whatever"
 
hypotethical situation #2

A friend of mind (*cough*) sent in his tax return for 2005 in October 2006. He expected the Revenue to send him a bill for €1,800 but instead sent him a refund of €1,600. (A difference of €3,400).

On further inspection it seems there was an admin error and a married persons tax credits/bands were used instead of a single person.

The cheque was received on the same day as the Moriarty Tribunal report was published !!! Its going to be hard to return that cheque !!
 
I am in same situation. Instead of getting bill for €1000 I got refund check for €2400. I have full intentions to return it back but don't know how. Should I return the check back with covering letter or cash it and wait for revenues letter.I want to avoid a situation where revenue ask for extra €2400 (in case they loose it or something)
 
Write to Revenue (e.g. your tax office) explaining the situation and how you want to return the excess. See what they say first.
 
Ok I continue to be amazed by these posts where the Revenue overpay people, surely they are the people who are meant to be qualified in carrying out final assessments. I'm not in anyway saying that people shouldn't return these cheques but what about someone who has no clue whatsoever about how the Tax System works and is depending on the Revenue to assess what they are returning where would error like this leave them......

Pahadia, I'm not sure if your return included anything for Capital Gains Tax but last year when I done my return I included my CGT liability for the year, they sent me a refund cheque a bit above what I had estimated to be refunded, however a few months later I got a letter saying my CGT for that year was ......, turns out although I had submitted it as part of my Return they dealth with it as a separate issue at a later date. So maybe something similar has happened to you, just a thought.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top