Taxbuddies - income tax refunds. HUGE commission!

ndulwich

Hi

My union recently wrote to me with the great news that they can recommend taxbuddies.com as a service to check I have paid the right income tax over the last six years.

They will only contact Inland Revenue if they believe I'm due a rebate and the service is free. But if I get a rebate, they take a whopping 40%. I know 40% of nothing is nothing (do I get a prize) but this seems a bit flippin steep.

Does anyone know of a similar service, or is this something you could easily do yourself?

Cheers

Pennywise

There have been plenty of threads like this if you look back a few months.

There is NO NEED to use firms like this. They are doing nothing you can't do yourself, and of course you have to "spoon feed" them the information, such as your payslips/P60 and personal details so there would always be the same amount of digging around whether you do it yourself or get someone else to do it.

Plenty of people get the same kind of advice in this forum, completely free of charge - look at the threads on here for tax relief for washing your uniform, professional subscriptions, car tax, mileage, union subs, etc etc.

You can just check your tax codes on your payslips and P60 to make sure you've received the correct personal tax allowance if your affairs are simple.

You can also send your details (P60/Payslips) directly to the tax office and ask for a review if you're worried.

Another problem with them is that they receive the tax refund, take their cut and send the rest back to you, and that lasts for years until you cancel the arrangement, so they could get a 40% cut of a refund they havn't helped you get the following year for example. More worrying, if HMRC mistakenly pay a refund, they'll take their cut and give you the 60% but HMRC will come chasing you for the full amount when they realise their mistake. It is never a good idea to sign over your tax refunds to anyone.

If you feel your tax affairs are complicated, why not see an accountant - most will give a free initial consulation and then charge only for their time afterwards which may well be a lot less than 40% if there are big tax refunds at stake.

Probably best to give this kind of organisation a miss.

Cook_County

Penywise is correct. Only deal with a qualified person, eg a Chartered Tax Adviser of Chartered Accountant. They do not charge contingent fees.

gazbert_2

My union sent me one recently. I thought it was great till I spotted the 40% commision!

How would I go about calculating this myself?