Your tax credits impact your pay for the whole year, which makes January an important time to carry out a check of the tax credits which Revenue has granted you for 2022.

It is beneficial to check-up on what tax credits Revenue is planning to give you for 2022. Often their information may be out of date for your current circumstances as it can affect your taxes. 

For example, if there have been any changes to your personal or family circumstances or your work life, you may be entitled to extra tax credits. Or in other cases, there may be some tax credits carried over from 2021 that you are no longer entitled to. 

If you do not carry out a quick check of your tax credits or do not notify Revenue about any changes, on the one hand you could end up paying more tax than you should, which of course nobody wants to do! Additionally, it is good to ensure you are not paying less tax than you should be; this is to avoid getting an unexpected tax bill for the difference in the future, which again nobody wants!

How can you check your Tax Credits? 

It’s quick and easy to review and check your tax credits; the first step is to log into your Revenue My Account. 

From here, click on ‘Manage your Tax Credits Service’. Now you can quickly and easily review and update Revenue about any changes to your tax credits.

What changes to your circumstances could affect your Tax Credits? 

Some of the changes to your circumstances which may affect your tax credits and which you should notify Revenue about include if you:

• Get married or form a civil partnership in 2021
• Formally separate or divorce
• Start or stop caring for a child as a single parent, or if someone that you were claiming for starts or stops receiving a disability benefit
• Become widowed 

Another scenario to be aware of for those who are married or in a civil partnership, and are jointly assessed. If your partner is a PAYE worker and is unemployed, you may be able to transfer their unused tax credits to yourself. 

Transferring unused tax credits will increase your tax credits and reduce the amount of tax you will pay.  Don’t forget to transfer the credits back when your spouse is back working to avoid them having a higher tax deducted on their earnings than they previously had!

In addition, if you are jointly or separately assessed and your spouse is in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (‘PUP’) or any other taxable social welfare benefit your tax credits and standard rate band will be reduced by Revenue in order to collect the tax on the PUP/ taxable social welfare benefit.

What Tax Credits are Available?

Click here to find a full breakdown of tax credits available and help you assess what tax credit(s) are relevant to you. You can then notify Revenue via your Revenue My Account. 

 After Revenue has processed any changes to your tax credits, it will be updated on your account and applied to your next payroll by your employer.

Good to Know! Real Time Tax Credits for Health Expenses

A Real Time Credit facility is available to claim Health Expenses and Nursing Home expenses as you incur them throughout the year by going onto your Revenue myAccount and going to the option ‘Receipts Tracker’. By claiming as you go along throughout the year, Revenue will grant your tax relief in “real time”, meaning you can benefit from increased tax credits in your next payroll payment from your employer.

When the medical expenses receipts added to your myAccount are processed by Revenue an amended Tax Credit Certificate will be issued which your employer will take into account when your next salary is processed.

Get in touch for more help!

Fenero are multi-award winning friendly tax specialists and experts in all things contracting. We are straight-talking technical experts, with a single-minded mission to deliver market leading customer experience; fast, friendly, informative service and great value fees.

Reasons why Contractors choose Fenero include:

• 24/7 Access to myFenero Contractor Portal
• Dedicated Account Manager
• Multiple money-back service level guarantees
• Great value fees
• Comprehensive insurance coverage
• Google Reviews rating 4.9/5
• Contractor Wellbeing Programme – free medical and counselling services and discounted health insurance plans
• Financial and Tax Planning Support
• Winners: 2020 Tax Team of the Year
• Winners: 2019 Accountancy Practice of the Year
• Winners: 2021 & 2019 Customer Experience Impact in Professional Services
• 13 years + experience
• Process €100m+ contractor payments annually

We are proud winners of multiple awards in the 2020 and 2019 Irish Accountancy Awards, including Tax Team of the Year and Accountancy Practice of the Year. We are also proud winners of the CX Impact in Professional Services Award in the 2021 & 2019 Irish Customer Experience Impact Awards! So talk to the best in the industry for all the expert tax and financial advice you need to maximise the financial benefits of contracting!

For more information on getting started in contracting or to get a free illustrative calculation showing how much you can earn as a professional contractor, drop a line to the friendly, expert crew in our Solutions Team on  +353 1 6877400 or contact us via email. We look forward to helping you!