The Inland Revenue are making this week a special Taxback Week.
Between 30 October and 3 November Inland Revenue staff will be visiting shopping centres, libraries, community centres, and other public places, as well as schools, and homes for elderly people. The aim of the week is to encourage schoolchildren, pensioners and other people on low incomes to claim back tax that may have been deducted from their savings.
A national event in London on Wednesday 1 November will feature a famous celebrity.
Dawn Primarolo, Paymaster General, said, “I am delighted to announce that next week will be Taxback Week. This is a major customer service initiative by the Inland Revenue. It will help to make sure that people do not pay more tax than they need to. I hope that all the events nation wide encourage those on low incomes, and pensioners in particular, to claim back any tax due to them.”Banks and building societies automatically take tax off at the lower rate of 20% from interest before it is paid to savers, unless savers who are not due to pay tax tell them not to.
Anyone whose income is below the taxable limit, currently about £84 a week, or more if they are over 65 (at least £111 a week), does not have to pay tax. They can:
- claim the tax back from the Inland Revenue
- tell their bank or building society not to take tax off in the future.
Some people on higher incomes will also be able to claim back some of the tax that has been deducted automatically. This may be the case, for example, if they are due to pay tax only at the 10% starting rate, or, depending on their income, if they are still entitled to the married couple’s allowance ( i.e. they were born before 6 April 1935).
On Budget day a new `Taxback’ web page was set up on the Inland Revenue web-site at http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/taxback. This tells people how to go about claiming tax back, and how to tell their bank or building society not to take tax off their interest.
