The Collector General suddenly tells me I owe them money from 2010

In Sept 2010 , I paid my preliminary tax for 2010.

In Sept 2011, I did my tax return for 2010 online, which showed that I overpaid my 2010 tax liability by €98. It deducted this from my 2011 preliminary tax.

In Sept 2012, I did my tax return for 2011 which showed an overpayment which it carried forward to 2012.

But in Feb 2013 I got a demand for €370 for 2010 for the first time.

I phoned the Collector General and neither the person whom I spoke to or their supervisor could say anything more than "The system says it's due so you owe it".

They could not explain why the demand suddenly started appearing in 2013.

Any ideas on how to sort this?

Hi Brendan

I've seen some odd demands relating to 2010. The introduction of the USC and the unusual basis for calculating preliminary tax for 2010/2011 seem to have caused confusion. I suggest that you call your Revenue district and ask them to talk you through the basis for the calculation.

Regards

Sean

Start with a request for a P21 balancing statement for 2010 which may show where the difference arose.. Maybe request the 2011 P21 also...

I assumed that Brendan's a Form 11 man...maybe I'm wrong?

Doubt a P21 will cut it.

Sean Bateman said:

Hi Brendan

I've seen some odd demands relating to 2010. The introduction of the USC and the unusual basis for calculating preliminary tax for 2010/2011 seem to have caused confusion. I suggest that you call your Revenue district and ask them to talk you through the basis for the calculation.

Regards

Sean

Click to expand...

Hi Seán

Yes, I am a Form 11 man.

In Sept 2011, I filled in the Form 11 for 2010 via ROS.
It calculated my liability for the year.
I presume it noted that I had paid preliminary tax - I wouldn't have filled in that figure, would I?
So it calculated that I had overpaid by €98.

The liability is correct and hasn't changed since it calculated it back in Sept 2011.

The bit that is missing is that I have a hard copy Form 11 Payment Instruction which shows Income Tax Balancing Amount 2010 : 98 (refund).

I presume it calculated that refund. I didn't choose the figure?

Brendan

Brendan

It sounds like the €98 wasn't allocated correctly which is generating the demand.

The CG just deal with payment - Your district should be able to talk you through the issue.

Regards

Sean

Hi Seán

Am I right in saying that ROS calculates my liability and the amount due?

In other words, it calculates my liablility at €10,000 and it says that I have paid €9,000 Preliminary Tax, so I now owe them €1,000.

If I had input the PT figure, I could have done it incorrectly. But as far as I remember, the system inputs it from its records.

I have called my tax office and they are to return my call.

Brendan

Brendan

Do you have your tax assessment(s) for 2010? Is the most recent assessment correct? Does it tally with your tax return? If not, try to establish if it is correct. If it is correct, then compare your overall liability with your record of payments to date, and this should tell you if the stated liability is correct.

I find it generally to be a waste of time calling the tax office at least until you have completed the above steps.

Hi Tommy

I have a hard copy Form 11 Payment Instruction for 2010 (dated Oct 2011) with the following on it

Income Tax Preliminary Tax 2011 - 12,000 ( Obviously this is a figure I input)
Income Tax balancing amount 2010 - 98 Refund ( I presume that they calculated this)
Total net amount - €11,902

The assessment has not changed since I submitted in in 2011.
Unfortunately, I can't see where they calculated the 98 refund figure. I presume it must be wrong.

Is this not all automated?

They read out their statement to me over the phone and their way of accounting for it seems to be very misleading.

The Form 11 Payment Instruction is

Income Tax Preliminary Tax 2011 - 12,000
Income Tax balancing amount 2010 - 98 Refund
Total net amount - €11,902

But in 2011, they only show €11,902 paid for 2011.

The layout should be the traditional accounting statement layout

The information/figures on the Payment Instruction are input manually by the taxpayer on ROS when filing the return, unless my memory is failing me.

Hi DB

Whatever I input, I got a receipt saying

Income Tax Preliminary Tax 2011 - 12,000 ( Obviously this is a figure I input)
Income Tax balancing amount 2010 - 98 Refund ( I thought that they calculated this)
Total net amount - €11,902

But whatever the receipt says, they set the €11,902 as preliminary tax.

Brendan

Is that 12,000 what was due or what you paid? Is it possible that the 98 was an underpayment and that the when you paid the 12,000 the first 98 was allocated to 2010 and the balance to 2011 prelim?

Have you called your district and asked them to look into it? CG doesn't look at assessments afaik, just balances.