Annual Taxsaver Bus Rail leap card Coronavirus Covid 19 refund for not used ticket

bakubaku1 · 23-03-2020 8:42am #1

Hi All

Can anybody advise how to go around and cancell my yearly taxsaver ticket please,

I'm not using ticket and looks like will not until.May 20 as asked to.work from home by employer so Taxsaver.ie only taking free.monay from my account at pay day.

How I can stop monthyl charge until I'm or we all who use annually bus train tickets back working after Covid ?

whomitconcerns · 23-03-2020 8:56am

Well that's something you can look into in a month or two. Probably not important to deal with that right now, most likely they'll extend them or refund a portion.

cdeb · 23-03-2020 9:00am

Public transport is still running, so I don't think that anything outside normal cancellation would be operating.

Ask your finance department - or whoever arranged the ticket for you originally about cancelling; they can cancel with effect from 1st April, but there's a charge of two months - so if you have five months left, you will get three months back. (This is because the annual ticket includes two free months compared to a monthly ticket, so they can't refund a free month)

When all goes back to normal, you will have to buy a new ticket again - so if this all blows over in 6 weeks (probably unlikely), then you will end up slightly out of pocket.

Sarn · 23-03-2020 9:01am

Also, they don’t refund two months of your ticket as you pay for 10 months and get two months “free”. If you’ll need to get another ticket once everything goes back to normal it might not be worth your while cancelling.

cdeb · 23-03-2020 9:02am

It's two months, not three, btw.

Sarn · 23-03-2020 9:03am

cdeb wrote: »

It's two months, not three, btw.

Just realised and edited.

Jem72 · 24-03-2020 9:11am

I bought a monthly season ticket for March for cash (E437) as I just started a new job and they didn't have taxsaver set up yet. I sent them an enquiry last week about getting a refund. It took several days to get a response - understandable as they are a bit busy, and they said they'd refund the unused portion of it if I returned the ticket. It's a bit late now since there will only be a week left on it by the time they receive it but arguing over a hundred quid that you would have spent anyway is hardly a priority right now.

I wouldn't bother returning an annual TaxSaver just yet. There is a reasonably high chance that things will be returning to normal by the time two months have elapsed. And if things are still shut down in two months time, we'll probably all have bigger problems.

Collie D · 27-03-2020 3:59pm

I got an email from my ticket provider this week saying they’re trying to negotiate a pause on annual tickets.

fixxation · 31-03-2020 5:40pm

Does anyone know if the monthly Taxsaver tickets are paid in advance or arrears?

I've been working from home (like many others) for the last couple weeks, and I wrote my finance dept two weeks ago advising that they cancel the monthly ticket, as I don't need it at present. Got my payslip today and it has a Taxsaver charge on it of 145, which they are claiming is for March... I always thought the Taxsaver tickets were paid for in advance?

cdeb · 31-03-2020 6:00pm

The amount your company pays in March will be for the April ticket, but it might well be April when they recoup that from your payslip.

jahalpin · 01-04-2020 9:57pm

Sarn wrote: »

Also, they don’t refund two months of your ticket as you pay for 10 months and get two months “free”. If you’ll need to get another ticket once everything goes back to normal it might not be worth your while cancelling.

The 2 free months isn't totally accurate as the maximum weekly cap on a Leap card is €27.50 which is €1,430 a year, the annual taxsaver bus only ticket is €1,450 which means they are actually charging for the 52 weeks plus an additional €20

Daemonic · 01-04-2020 10:22pm

jahalpin wrote: »

The 2 free months isn't totally accurate as the maximum weekly cap on a Leap card is €27.50 which is €1,430 a year, the annual taxsaver bus only ticket is €1,450 which means they are actually charging for the 52 weeks plus an additional €20

Yes, but the €1,450 is taken before tax. Topping up a Leap card each week is after tax so assuming you're on the high tax rate, accounting for allowances etc you might be paying 30% of your total yearly salary in tax so you need to earn abour €1,850 to have the €1,430 in your pocket to spend on Leap topups.

It's not the 50% ish the ads claim you save but there is a saving.

Carawaystick · 06-04-2020 12:05am

fixxation wrote: »

Does anyone know if the monthly Taxsaver tickets are paid in advance or arrears?

I've been working from home (like many others) for the last couple weeks, and I wrote my finance dept two weeks ago advising that they cancel the monthly ticket, as I don't need it at present. Got my payslip today and it has a Taxsaver charge on it of 145, which they are claiming is for March... I always thought the Taxsaver tickets were paid for in advance?

You unrevocably alter your contract to let your employer reduce your salary by the amount they pay to buy a public transport ticket for you.

Any ticket for March gets paid for by your company at the start of March, or the end of Feb.
they probably pay you in arrears which is why the deduction ahows up now.

jack presley · 14-04-2020 3:41pm

According to The Irish Times, the NTA are looking at options to help commuters with annual/monthly tickets. These include extensions to annual tickets or reimbursements for monthly ones.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/coronavirus-cancellations-are-you-entitled-to-a-full-refund-1.4227717

Nalz · 26-04-2020 11:44pm

jack presley wrote: »

According to The Irish Times, the NTA are looking at options to help commuters with annual/monthly tickets. These include extensions to annual tickets or reimbursements for monthly ones.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/personal-finance/coronavirus-cancellations-are-you-entitled-to-a-full-refund-1.4227717

Any update at all on this?

Why wouldn't they just refund people on annual tickest for the month of March and April?

jack presley · 27-04-2020 9:00am

Only thing I've read since was a Twitter back and forth between a couple of people and TFI. TFI's argument was that it is up to the individual companies to figure out the best way to resolve the issue and the people responding were saying they couldn't without instruction from TFI.

cython · 30-04-2020 12:07pm

Nalz wrote: »

Any update at all on this?

Why wouldn't they just refund people on annual tickest for the month of March and April?

Refunding direct to people who got tax relief in purchasing (probably most people in reality, they're not really cost effective without this) could introduce additional liabilities for them on that refund. Refunding via an employer or vendor to try to account for this via payroll adds further complexity and cost to any measure.

Simplest measure for annual tickets is probably to extend validity by a month or two (or more), depending on how long this goes on for.

jack presley · 01-05-2020 1:57pm

https://twitter.com/TFIupdates/status/1256205501806886916

acquiescefc · 02-05-2020 2:57am

I cant see me being in our office this year for obvious safety reasons.
Id rather get a refund

Trampas · 02-05-2020 8:01am

acquiescefc wrote: »

I cant see me being in our office this year for obvious safety reasons.
Id rather get a refund

I’d be the same and lots of others. Mine is up in July so for train so I’ll lose may and June payments on a refund.

b4nnnn · 26-05-2020 2:18pm

I'm shocked that at the moment there is no option for people who have stayed in the same employment to cancel the ticket and to receive the refund for unused months.

I've contacted NTA about it and I recommend for everybody to do the same to insist that this gets fixed.

Obviously after businesses open many people may continue working remotely full time, and/or may move to live in another place or move to work for a different company. In all those cases getting a "free travel" later will be absolutely worthless. It's actually even worse than that, because since restrictions were put in place we are continuing to pay for that 'free travel'. Even the way it's framed it's manipulative.

goingnowhere · 26-05-2020 2:59pm

Yes you can and always could cancel for the unused portion, its been an option since the scheme launched.

You simply call your HR and tell them to cancel. They call the Taxsaver office work out the numbers and its done. I'm guess they will accept that no travel since April 1st took place and refund accordingly.

https://www.taxsaver.ie/Commuters/Annual-Ticket-Conditions/Annual-Ticket-Conditions/

The problem here is not Irish Rail or Dublin Bus its dealing with your employer HR/payroll to manage the process

cdeb · 26-05-2020 3:04pm

I don't think they're accepting that no travel took place since 1st April.

If you want to cancel, you can do so as normal - i.e. the cancellation is effective the first of the following month.

b4nnnn · 27-05-2020 9:54am

I've requested to cancel the annual ticket in my job but the HR told me that there won't be any refund given for the unused months.

cdeb · 27-05-2020 10:11am

You won't get any credit for Mar/Apr/May.

But you will get some credit for future unused months if you cancel the ticket now.

That's Taxsaver's rules, not HR's, of course.

miamee · 27-05-2020 10:33am

My annual ticket usually runs Feb - Jan and I only pay monthly but work have cancelled it for me from May onwards so no more monthly payments coming from my wages.

namloc1980 · 27-05-2020 12:29pm

Where is the details of what the NTA are going to do about the missed months etc? Announced ages ago they'd do something and then silence.

cdeb · 27-05-2020 12:47pm

Yeah, this is still the last update so far as I know. All details tbc.

jack presley · 28-05-2020 11:05am

I cancelled my annual ticket this week so this month's wages are the last that will have the money deducted. In the email I got from HR confirming the cancellation, they said Taxsaver have said I'll be getting a refund for the unused months which I'll see at the end of June.

cdeb · 28-05-2020 11:16am

Which unused months - the future ones or the past ones?

jack presley · 28-05-2020 11:52am

cdeb wrote: »

Which unused months - the future ones or the past ones?

The past ones I presume as my payments are stopped from now on so there won't be any future ones.

cdeb · 28-05-2020 12:03pm

I would check that, as there's no indication as yet past months will be refunded. The only refund mentioned at the moment is -

For holders of TaxSaver tickets who will not be continuing in their current employment, a refund will be offered to cover the remaining period of ticket validity, from the time restrictions were put in place.

This presumably doesn't apply to you if you still have a HR department. If you are still with the same employer, then Taxsaver say they will give free travel credit at the end of the ticket period, but don't mention a refund.

So would be interesting to see if something different to what they're saying is now happening, as that might indicate progress. But I think it may be more likely you've taken HR up slightly wrong unfortunately.

jack presley · 28-05-2020 12:05pm

cdeb wrote: »

I would check that, as there's no indication as yet past months will be refunded. The only refund mentioned at the moment is -

You won't see this refund of course, because it will go to the company who have paid in full for the ticket.

So would be interesting to see if something different to what they're saying is now happening, as that might indicate progress. But I think it may be more likely you've taken HR up wrong unfortunately.

I don't know to be honest. All I'm saying is what was in the email I got from HR. Maybe it's mistake or he/she read the response from Taxsaver wrong. I'll let you all know at the end of next month..!!

cdeb · 28-05-2020 12:09pm

Do - don't mean to come across as one of those "You're wrong!" internet types, but if you've gotten a refund for past months (which I don't think you have unfortunately), then that means something solid has happened after a couple of months of complete stasis really.

b4nnnn · 29-05-2020 2:28pm

I've contacted the Taxsaver about the refunds for the period since we've been working from home and they said that they indeed offer refunds, but they don't interfere how the companies decide to refund the employee. My company didn't offered me the refund, so based on what Taxsaver have said they could do it, they just decided it's better for them not to. I'm waiting for their reply on this.

cdeb · 29-05-2020 3:30pm

Something doesn't stack up there. The Taxsaver ticket isn't your company's expense, it's yours. So there's no reason for the company to keep it.

Now what it could be is that Taxsaver do offer refunds for future unused periods. You wouldn't get a refund for that if you are paying on a monthly basis - because you haven't paid for it in the first place, and so can't get the refund. The company, who have paid for the ticket in full up front and are still owed (say) 5 months' payments by you, would then be entitled to keep the refund to reduce the amount you owe.

But that again assumes refunds for future periods, not past periods.

0gac3yjefb5sv7 · 30-05-2020 9:42am

I got a rail/bus/Luas ticket and haven't used it since March. I only see myself using it maybe once a week until next year. Is it definitely worthwhile cancelling it? I presume I'll be better off financially but just wanted to check if anyone could confirm.

Also why won't they refund back to April 1st if the ticket was unused?

cdeb · 30-05-2020 9:51am

MattS1 wrote: »

Also why won't they refund back to April 1st if the ticket was used?

I presume you mean if it wasn't used?

Only real answer to that is that the official line is they will extend the ticket duration, and make no reference to refunds - but details are still tbc.

The unspoken part is probably that they couldn't afford to turn around and refund what could be a half-year's income.

Atlantic Dawn · 30-05-2020 9:55am

Could the state transport companies actually be saving money during this crisis? They are running less frequent services and additionally smaller trains so reducing maintenance costs yet still bringing the same taxsaver and social welfare travel monies?

0gac3yjefb5sv7 · 30-05-2020 9:56am

cdeb wrote: »

I presume you mean if it wasn't used?

Only real answer to that is that the official line is they will extend the ticket duration, and make no reference to refunds - but details are still tbc.

The unspoken part is probably that they couldn't afford to turn around and refund what could be a half-year's income.

Sorry yes that's correct.

That's no use to me through because I'm clearly not going to get the same use of it using it once a week as if I was everyday going to work...very frustrating. I presume I should still cancel the ticket financially?

RGARDINR · 30-05-2020 10:21am

Will be going back to work proper come sept. My annual ticket runs from 1st July to 30 June so haven't been able to use it since March when went into lockdown. So I presume they will extend it the few mths then?

cdeb · 30-05-2020 10:26am

MattS1 wrote: »

Sorry yes that's correct.

That's no use to me through because I'm clearly not going to get the same use of it using it once a week as if I was everyday going to work...very frustrating. I presume I should still cancel the ticket financially?

It probably depends on a lot of things. I guess if the extension isn't worth it (if, as you say, you're only going into the office one or two days a week), then maybe it is time to cancel the ticket and cut your losses. But how much time is there left on it? How many months are you paying it over? The last two months of an annual ticket are considered free, so if you're paying over 12 months, there'd actually be a small extra cost to finish. Or if you pay in one lump at the start, it'd make sense to cancel and get something back.

Also, it might be too late now to cancel with effect from 1st June - so you're stuck with another month as cancellations only happen from the 1st of a month.

cdeb · 30-05-2020 10:27am

RGARDINR wrote: »

Will be going back to work proper come sept. My annual ticket runs from 1st July to 30 June so haven't been able to use it since March when went into lockdown. So I presume they will extend it the few mths then?

Yes, they say they will be extending tickets for the period (3½ months or so in your case)

But with the caveat that details all seem to be tbc

RGARDINR · 30-05-2020 10:29am

cdeb wrote: »

Yes, they say they will be extending tickets for the period (3½ months or so in your case)

But with the caveat that details all seem to be tbc

Thanks just means be handy then I suppose. Will get me up until nearer to the new year as the job does it twice a year July to end of June and a normal calendar year so will get that one then. Hopefully sorted by September so. Thanks.

cdeb · 30-05-2020 10:29am

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Could the state transport companies actually be saving money during this crisis? They are running less frequent services and additionally smaller trains so reducing maintenance costs yet still bringing the same taxsaver and social welfare travel monies?

They're not bringing in the same Taxsaver income - people aren't renewing tickets.

And remember the amount that goes out of your payslip each month doesn't go to Taxsaver - it reimburses your employer, who has paid for the ticket in full up front. So they've got very little actual cash coming in.

Also, there's no cash fares or Leap card top-ups. So there's not even a remote chance that transport companies are doing well in all this. They're almost certainly suffering very badly, having to keep up some service while basically being told their customers are banned from using their service.

0gac3yjefb5sv7 · 30-05-2020 12:55pm

cdeb wrote: »

It probably depends on a lot of things. I guess if the extension isn't worth it (if, as you say, you're only going into the office one or two days a week), then maybe it is time to cancel the ticket and cut your losses. But how much time is there left on it? How many months are you paying it over? The last two months of an annual ticket are considered free, so if you're paying over 12 months, there'd actually be a small extra cost to finish. Or if you pay in one lump at the start, it'd make sense to cancel and get something back.

Also, it might be too late now to cancel with effect from 1st June - so you're stuck with another month as cancellations only happen from the 1st of a month.

I've been paying it since last October I think iirc using the 10 month plan through my employer.

cdeb · 30-05-2020 1:05pm

So your tenth payment would be July - and if it's too late to cancel for June, then you'd at best get one month back.

Better than a kick up the arse, but at this stage it seems like it wouldn't make much difference if you cancel or not.

cython · 30-05-2020 5:30pm

cdeb wrote: »

It probably depends on a lot of things. I guess if the extension isn't worth it (if, as you say, you're only going into the office one or two days a week), then maybe it is time to cancel the ticket and cut your losses. But how much time is there left on it? How many months are you paying it over? The last two months of an annual ticket are considered free, so if you're paying over 12 months, there'd actually be a small extra cost to finish. Or if you pay in one lump at the start, it'd make sense to cancel and get something back.

Also, it might be too late now to cancel with effect from 1st June - so you're stuck with another month as cancellations only happen from the 1st of a month.

The NTA statement refers to the extended validity being deferrable:

they will be offered a choice as to whether the months-in-lieu are to take effect immediately, or whether they want to use them at a later date.

So it may be the case that people going back a couple of days a week now are better off using epurse, but eventually may be travelling enough again to warrant resumption (e.g. next year).

No indication of how much flexibility may apply, obviously.

Chivito550 · 04-06-2020 9:03pm

I have a tax saver for Rail, Bus and Luas which cost €2,050. The ticket started on 1st May 2019, and expired on 30th April 2020. The last day I used the ticket was Friday 14th March, the day after Leo made the very first announcement. I haven't been on public transport since and have been working from home since. I'll likely be working from home until late in the year.

My old employer arranged the tax saver ticket for me, but I left that job 8 months ago, and the remainder of the taxsaver was deducted from my final paycheck, which was a bit of a killer!

How do I go about getting a refund for the month and a half of my taxsaver ticket that I didn't use? Do I have to go back to my old employer on this? I'd rather not have to do that. But there is no information on the taxsaver website on how I should request my refund.

gmisk · 04-06-2020 9:08pm

Chivito550 wrote: »

I have a tax saver for Rail, Bus and Luas which cost €2,050. The ticket started on 1st May 2019, and expired on 30th April 2020. The last day I used the ticket was Friday 14th March, the day after Leo made the very first announcement. I haven't been on public transport since and have been working from home since. I'll likely be working from home until late in the year.

My old employer arranged the tax saver ticket for me, but I left that job 8 months ago, and the remainder of the taxsaver was deducted from my final paycheck, which was a bit of a killer!

How do I go about getting a refund for the month and a half of my taxsaver ticket that I didn't use? Do I have to go back to my old employer on this? I'd rather not have to do that. But there is no information on the taxsaver website on how I should request my refund.

I got the below response. Not sure if it answers your question or not. Looks like you will have to go to ex employer.

Please note the following guidance, issued by the Authority on 1st May:

For commuters who are to continue employment with their current employer, under the NTA plan, the customer will be offered free travel for a number of months equivalent to the length of time they have been unable to use their ticket as a result of travel restrictions.

At the point when the customer returns to work, or on expiry of their ticket, they will make arrangements with their employer and they will be offered a choice as to whether the months-in-lieu are to take effect immediately, or whether they want to use them at a later date.

For holders of TaxSaver tickets who will not be continuing in their current employment, a refund will be offered to cover the remaining period of ticket validity, from the time restrictions were put in place.

Where the customer wishes to receive a refund rather than a replacement ticket, it is still open to them to make such a request via their employer under existing terms and conditions.

loyatemu · 05-06-2020 11:11am

I've been told that as the annual ticket includes 2 free months, they won't be refunded. My ticket expires end of this month so I'll get a 1 month refund for not using it in April/May/June.

Annual Taxsaver Bus Rail leap card Coronavirus Covid 19 refund for not used ticket

Comments