Have you had a worrying letter from Revenue?

If so, it turns out you’re not alone; concerned taxpayers all over the country have been contacting tax experts to find out what they might owe after receiving letters issued by the tax commissioners in recent weeks.

Now tax refund company Taxback.com is calling on Revenue to provide some clarification around the letters, which outline the preliminary statement of certain PAYE taxpayers and call for them to submit a tax return before the November 16th deadline.

“It is our understanding that the vast majority of taxpayers in receipt of this communication from Revenue will never have filed a tax return before (having no other income outside their PAYE earnings) and are now, understandably, very concerned about this request from Revenue,” said Marian Ryan, Consumer Tax Manager with Taxback.com.

The company believes that Covid support payments may have prompted this action from Revenue.

“Many workers who received the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) or the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) were actually left with a tax bill due to the way the payments were structured,” said Ryan.

“Revenue has flagged this issue previously – but many people might still not be aware of it. Revenue has said previously that if there was tax owing, they would claw it back from workers over a number of years, so as not to have too severe a financial impact. However, until now, there has never been a mention of these taxpayers having to submit a tax return.”

‘No need to panic’

“Nobody wants a call from Revenue… it can be scary. But we want to let people know there’s no need to panic… they shouldn’t feel like they have done anything wrong – if they do have an underpayment then it can and will be resolved with Revenue.

“It’s also important for people to know that in many cases they can even reduce the underpayment in many cases with tax credits, expenses, remote worker relief etc.”