Workers get €1,250 tax refund under workplace advice scheme

Workers taking part in workplace "financial wellbeing" assessments are receiving average tax refunds of €1,250, according to data from Taxback. com.

The financial adviser, which specialises in tax refunds, started working with employers last year on an “employee financial wellbeing” programme in response to requests from businesses to speak to their employees about how to manage their tax affairs.

Over the past 10 months, it says it has worked with more than 40 employers across a variety of sectors, ranging from SMEs and family businesses to the Irish operations of multinationals.

It said the average refund amount received by employees participating in the programme to date had been €1,250, with one person getting as much as €7,400 back in tax.

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"On average, about three-quarters of the workforce in each of the organisations we have worked with have availed of the service," said Barry Cahill, director of financial wellbeing services at Taxback.com.

Tax reliefs

He said the most notable thing they came across in all the different companies was how few people were aware of tax reliefs and refunds that are available to them.

“These employees, and thousands of others in the same position around the country, can gain from unclaimed medical expenses, prescriptions, eworker relief, or specific flat-rate expenses such as shop assistant allowance,” he said. “But so many either do not know of these refunds, or believe that the process of claiming them is simply too convoluted and time consuming.”

He said part of the initiative with employers was to “dispel such myths”.

Mr Cahill said worrying about household finances was a weekly issue for four in 10 people it surveyed separately last year, with another 10 per cent saying it caused them concern every month.

Taxback.com says many employers are now "auditing" or reassessing employee benefits to see which are most valued by staff in the context of recruitment and retention. It said boosting morale was also seen as important in the aftermath of the two years of Covid disruption in the workplace and as many employers assessed new work patterns.