Feb 02 2010
How Much Tax Am I Paying? Is It Too Much
There may be only two certainties in life: taxes and death; individuals should investigate whether or not they have overpaid any tax since it’s estimated that 33% of the working population have at some point paid too much.Overpaid taxes can be recouped; this article looks at ways of doing this.
In answer to this somewhat very short question, ‘yes’. But, you may be thinking, I am employed, so I pay tax on the PAYE (Pay As You Earn) tax scheme, so I can’t be paying too much tax!Making this assumption could very well mean that you are wrong.
You could very well be paying too much tax since some accountancy firms have estimated that 30-33% of the population very well may be; this is in respect of whether you are self-employed, employed or on the Construction Industry Scheme.You could very well be paying too much since it’s estimated that 1 in every 3 people are!
Claiming any tax which has been overpaid can be done in two ways;. You can approach Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and see if they can hep you to reclaim any overpaid tax. Or you can find a good accountant to see if you have paid too much tax, or even a specialist tax recovery firm.
Whilst Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs may be more customer- friendly than they used to be, it is unlikely that they will fall over themselves to go through your tax records and find out if you have paid too much tax. To be fair, they simply don’t have the resources to do this, even if they had the will to do it!Kick starting the process by putting in a lot of effort has to be done by you when initially claiming your tax back.
So you should talk to an accountant, or do an online search for tax specialists, who often have a free calculator that you can use to ascertain whether or not you have indeed paid too much tax.These are quite easy to use, but ensure you have all your tax related paperwork in front of you.An accountant that’s good which springs to mind for e.g. is Wrexham chartered accountants, here you will get the best service ever. You can however, do an online search for accountants in your area, again, for e.g. accountants north wales.Numerous accountant companies will be listed in the directory; from here you can choose the best.
Contributing to the PAYE tax scheme doesn’t neccessarily mean you are paying the right amount of tax, so do not assume this. Mistakes are made and people often slip through the net, so it may well be worth your while checking out if you are due any overpaid monies and then trying to get the money back, so it is in your pocket, rather than HMRC’s.Spending it is the only decision you are left to make.
