PAYE / PRSI refunds when moving abroad

FrenchBoy

Hi,

I'm looking for help to get through the administrative nightmare I'm going through at present... I'm french, and I've been living 10 years in Ireland, worked and paid my PAYE/PRSI for all these years. Now I have turned the chapter and moved to the UK with my partner. I moved in beginning of April, but my last job finished end of February. Now, with all these info, can anybody tell me what I should be entitled to get back from leaving Ireland and not working there anymore, and contributed to PAYE/PRSI for all these years? What are the procedures to follow in order to avoid companies like Taxback.com to deal with my request and do the job for me with cashing 17% of what is due to me? Thank you very much for your help in advance... I'm sure that the Irish administration is not as unfriendly as the french one
A bientot...

Ponster

Maybe this site will help....

http://www.taxback.com/ie_TaxRefund.asp

FrenchBoy

Well, that was what I tried to avoid. I called these guys, and they said that they can file my claim for PAYE and PRSI, but their 17% commission on what I'm supposed to get is a bit excessive... I remember that by calling some numbers, and quoting for references with the revenue commissioner in PAYE dept and PRSI department, they should be able to do everything themselves, and avoid paying a 17% commission on it. It's no rocket science, I know... So if someone have done that already, and remember who to contact and what to ask for, thanks for letting me know.

pigeonbutler

I'm not aware of the ins and outs of PRSI and the transferability of the social insurance benefits associated with that.

Regarding PAYE (Income Tax), if you've left Ireland in the middle of a tax year, you may be entitled to some rebate of the tax paid in that year. However that may be limited in your case as you're becoming non-resident by going to the UK.

As for the previous ten years of tax paid, I'm afraid all that was tax you rightfully owed, and are not entitled to a refund of, unless of course you overpaid at any stage. Otherwise we'd all emigrate once our families had been raised and live off the big tax refund on a beach somewhere!

There's some special rules for professional sportsmen that retire young but I presume you're not in that bracket.

Finally, the only area for potential saving I can think of is if you paid Irish tax on any Foreign (non-irish, non UK) income, e.g. French Rental income. If so, that might not have been taxable due to you being non-domiciled in Ireland.

FrenchBoy

Thanks PigeonButler!

Unfortunately, I'm not a young professional sportsman, although I#m quite good in Rollerblading
For PAYE, I have claimed some back a couple of years ago as my previous employers made me pay too much tax at some stage... but I probably have to do that again from 2005. But I don't remember what the number was... and trying to get through PAYE section is a bit of a nightmare, it seems that I never call the correct number, whatever I dial!
for PRSI, apparently I don't need to transfer anything to the UK, as there is no need to do so (I'm only 33 yo, so not close to retirement so they said), and when I'll get closer to retirement, then I will have to contact them and all my details should be there, which is something I'm quite suspicious about... mayeb I'm wrong...
I worked in Jan and Feb 2008, and I presume that my salary and tax allocation was calculated on the previous year earning, therefore a part of it must have been over 41% tax, so I presume I must have overpaid taxes for this beginning of year...
I presume a lot of things really... pity Irish Revenue doesn't have like TaxBack, an online chat to tell you what to do, and send to you all docs to proceed with your request... I guess I'll have to go with TaxBack then

Luisella

I am in a similar situation, I'm moving from Dublin to Spain, and I was wondering on how to claim unemployment benefits in Spain based on my PRSI payments.

I know how it's done in Italy: you just need a letter (English is fine) from your former employer stating your contributions, and the unemployment office should accept your claim.