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07th Feb 2019

If you’ve worked in the UK in the last four years, you could be in for a tax windfall

Conor Heneghan

tax refunds Irish workers UK

Does this apply to you or anyone you know?

An estimated one in three Irish workers who have worked in the UK in the last four years are due a tax rebate, according to taxback.com.

Thousands upon thousands of Irish people have headed across the water for employment purposes in recent years and those who have since come home to Ireland are being urged to check their tax entitlements.

In increasingly uncertain times caused by Brexit, meanwhile, Irish people currently working in the UK who are considering returning home are also being encouraged to check their tax situation and their eligibility for a rebate.

Taxback.com say that approximately one in three Irish people who have worked in the UK in the last four years are eligible for an average refund of £963, which works out at a little under €1,100.

Many of those eligible for a refund are not aware of their eligibility or the length of time they have to claim, with taxback.com creating a “no-nonsense” guide to income tax in the UK aimed at helping Irish people who have worked or are currently working in the UK to sort out their tax affairs and avail of any refunds that may be due.

The UK, not surprisingly, is a hugely popular destination for Irish workers, with over 12,000 people having migrated there from Ireland in the last 12 months alone, according to CSO figures. That number is down significantly on peak figures in 2011, when almost 20,000 Irish people made the move.

Commenting on the tax refunds available to Irish workers, Eileen Devereux, Commercial Director at Taxback.com said: “There has always been and continues to be a strong Irish workforce in the UK – but many of these people end up coming home for one reason or another and our experience is that many don’t know they have left valuable tax refunds behind them, effectively giving the UK tax authorities their hard-earned cash.”

“If you’ve worked in the UK and paid tax in the last four years, chances are you could be due a tax rebate,” Devereux added.

“Figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics estimate that there were 149,000 people who were born in Ireland, aged 16 to 64 living and employed in the UK between 2013 and 2015. Any of those people who may have already returned home, or may be thinking of it, would do well to check their eligibility for a rebate, which could be as much as a huge £963 – our average UK tax rebate.”

Irish people who have worked in the UK could be due a rebate for many reasons, including those who:

  • Are a non-UK national
  • Have left the UK
  • Only worked temporarily in the UK
  • Incurred work-related expenses
  • Didn’t work the full tax year
  • Were made redundant
  • Were on an emergency tax code

“A growing economy and increasing opportunities in construction, technology, and financial services are luring many Irish home,” Devereux said.

“The construction sector in particular is calling out for Irish people who may have left during the difficult years of the recession to come back to Ireland and fill up the vacancies now appearing with the building boom, particularly in the commercial sector. We’re also likely to see a flood of new job opportunities coming online in FinTech and banking through the fallout from Brexit.

“But as these people return home, we want to urge them not to neglect to claim their tax back when they leave.”

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