How many years back can Revenue review?

qwerty99

Someone in my family has received correspondence from Revenue about a Balancing Statement (p21) from tax year 2003. On completion of the balancing statement in 2004 they received a cheque for an OVERpayment of tax of €800 odd. Now turns out they actually owe €800 and it will be recouped by adjusting the tax credits in 2014/15.
I know there is a 4 year limit when making claims but is there no such limit for Revenue themselves? Or is there a "special team" revisiting all large payouts to make sure they were done correctly in the first instance??? Comparing the new 2013 version of the p21 and the 2004 version, it looks as if the tax credits were incorrect.
I'm left wondering how that was not spotted at the time?!

Dublinmuppet

Revenue can go back 10 yrs afaik

Ally Dick

Revenue can go back as far as they want, but bank data only goes back 6 years at most, because of data protection rules, so if the Revenue are investigating something from 7 years ago, it is too late for them to get the bank details.

brrabus

Ally Dick wrote: »

Revenue can go back as far as they want, but bank data only goes back 6 years at most, because of data protection rules, so if the Revenue are investigating something from 7 years ago, it is too late for them to get the bank details.

Bank data goes back a lot longer than 6 years. End of the day, as you said Revenue can go back as far as they want, burden of proof is on the shoulders of the taxpayer. It is up to the taxpayer to make his case even in the event that he has not much proof.

As for the OP, I would question why the Revenue gave a refund in 2004 and now are saying that it was the opposite. Who made the mistake? In cases where the taxpayer has provided false information, this just gives they the incentive to open up previous years. A Balancing Statement is what the Revenue produce based on the information Revenue have in hand for a PAYE taxpayer, it is produced by the Revenue, the taxpayer does not complete a Balancing Statement.

srsly78

Whatever about banks... but normal companies are legally obligated to keep 6 years of records. So if they audited your company they can't ask for receipts any older than that. Well they can ask... but they can't then complain if you don't have them! I think this 6 years applies to self-employed individuals as well?

Certain industries (probably banks, pensions, insurance etc) probably have regulations requiring them to keep records for longer.

Ally Dick

brrabus wrote: »

Bank data goes back a lot longer than 6 years

I work for a bank. Transaction History currently goes back as far as 2007. Before that is not available as banks are made destroy it because of the Data Protection Act. I do agree with you though that the revenue put the onus on the taxpayer

brrabus

Ally Dick wrote: »

I work for a bank. Transaction History currently goes back as far as 2007. Before that is not available as banks are made destroy it because of the Data Protection Act. I do agree with you though that the revenue put the onus on the taxpayer

Well I have been involved in many Revenue Audits for clients and we have obtained data that goes back a lot longer than that, many many year longer but the clients have to pay and the banks know how to charge, I have seen the bank charges for this. The data is there, it might not be readily obtainable on computer record but the date is there. If the Revenue want to point the finger at a tax payer it is up to the tax payer to prove their case not the other way round. Guilty until you prove yourself innocent.

scwazrh

As others have said Revenue can and will go as far back as they want and its up to you to provide the info they require or they will hit you with an estimate and tell you to prove its wrong.From my experience unless you can afford to argue with them , your better off to do what they say.

Red Nissan

Ally Dick wrote: »

Revenue can go back as far as they want, but bank data only goes back 6 years at most, because of data protection rules, so if the Revenue are investigating something from 7 years ago, it is too late for them to get the bank details.

Thanks. So I've been right in just ignoring correspondence and as long as my millions have been sent to the Camen Island more than six years ago, gotcha.

And what about a company that has gone bankrupt? IE a company that paid me a million in the last seven years but in the last year has gone bust?

duffman13

Ally Dick wrote: »

I work for a bank. Transaction History currently goes back as far as 2007. Before that is not available as banks are made destroy it because of the Data Protection Act. I do agree with you though that the revenue put the onus on the taxpayer

This is false, I work for a bank also and we can go back a lot longer than ten years so records are not destroyed by banks. Data protection require documentation to be kept for 7 years I think and after that its up to individual institutions. I have recently ordered ststements for a client back as far as 2003.

Ally Dick

brrabus wrote: »

Well I have been involved in many Revenue Audits for clients and we have obtained data that goes back a lot longer than that, many many year longer but the clients have to pay and the banks know how to charge, I have seen the bank charges for this. The data is there, it might not be readily obtainable on computer record but the date is there. If the Revenue want to point the finger at a tax payer it is up to the tax payer to prove their case not the other way round. Guilty until you prove yourself innocent.

The data is obtainable if the accountant has it on file

Dee01

Revenue can go back as far as they like.

Re a post above about finding out if it was Revenue or the tax payer who made the error to cause the underpayment, this is irrelevant. It is the PAYE tax payers obligation to ensure their tax credits are correct on an ongoing basis. Unfair but true.

brrabus

Ally Dick wrote: »

The data is obtainable if the accountant has it on file

Accountants dont's have to keep the records past six years and as for bank statement these would be returned to the client, accountant would never destroy bank statement. Many a time have I got it from the banks, often archived and sometimes even on microfiche tho which takes ages.