Taxes have and always will be the stress of most people’s adult life. And there are two sides of the same coin in terms of feelings you may receive when getting your Revenue yearly about your taxes. And last weeks, there are many people who are either ecstatic and relieved and then there are others who are scrambling around to find some way in order to lessen their tax liability.
Either way, you have most likely in one way or another been affected by the wage subsidies that the pandemic has caused. But there are still some things you can do to lessen that tax bill just a little. Of the following hints, if you have not claimed any of them since 2017, you can still be eligible for that period of time.
1: Tuition Fees
With children in third-level education, tuition can cost a fortune. But you can also benefit from tax relief on fees paid for undergraduate programs, postgraduate, IT, and foreign language courses. The relief starts at 20%, meaning that 20% will be returned to your pockets.
2: E-working Relief
This tip is applicable if your employer is currently paying you €3.20 daily as a stipend towards you working at home and the costs that come which. This can come to about €750 annually, which is tax-free. But this option is mostly not taken by employers.
The average person is looking towards other ways to lessen that tax bill such as claiming tax back on other expenses you’ve incurred. This could include broadband, electricity, or heat. You can be eligible for a proportion of these overall costs back depending on the number of days you worked from home. There are many options out there which can give you up to 10 cents back daily with these expenses and it wouldn’t hurt to look into such options.
3: Miscellaneous options
If you’ve had changed circumstances in your lives during 2020 then you may be eligible for one of these following. If you turned 65 last year, you are eligible for an age tax credit worth €245. If you’re getting to 70, you are entitled to a full medical card which can give you .5% up to €12,012 and 2% on the balance. Getting married can also offer many changes to taxes but can also depend on income. If you are earning less than the standard rate band of €35,300, you can check to see if you are eligible to have your taxes jointly assessed and therefore potential to be reduced.
Lucas Zhang was a Finance major at Ohio State University. He writes about finance, mortgages, and technology for Irish Mortgage Brokers.
Relevant Links: Tax Liability explained, Tax saving tips
