THE Inland Revenue is mounting an advertising campaign to persuade
people to ask the taxman to return tax which they should not have paid.
The Revenue reckons there are still over ten million people who could
claim tax back and have not done so. There is an estimated #800m waiting
to be repaid and refunds can be back-dated to cover earlier tax years.
The situation stems largely from the ending of composite rate tax on
building society deposits and from the independent taxation of husbands
and wives, which was introduced in April 1990.
Composite rate tax precluded the societies from offering gross-paying
accounts which penalised non-taxpayers. It was abolished from April
1991.
The latest #2m campaign will be directed specifically at pensioners
and married women who do not go out to work, the two main groups which
are owed tax refunds.
There have been two other similar campaigns and altogether nearly #10m
has been spent on awareness advertising.
Declining interest rates have led to more pensioners dependent on
savings for income dropping below the tax-paying threshold, possibly
making them eligible for refunds. Redundancy can also make people
qualify for a tax rebate.
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