# Can you claim tax relief on bin charges?



## witchymand

Hi,
I heard somewhere that you can claim back on bin charges paid, do you know if this is true.
Also how do you go about claiming it back, I live in south county Dublin.
Thanks


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## TarfHead

*Re: can you claim back for Bin charges?*

On your PAYE income tax return - yes.
Check out www.revenue.ie.

If you're not a tax-payer- I don't know.


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## SteelBlue05

*Re: can you claim back for Bin charges?*

You can, you get a tax credit for it. It works out at about 40 euro net per year. 

see [broken link removed] you can claim the tax credit by texting in to the revenue number, very handy. All you have to do is retain the bin tags (assuming you pay by bin tags, but you can also claim for fixed bin charges) in case the revenue ever do a spot check, which they probably never will as its such a small amount of tax credit you are getting.


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## ClubMan

*Re: can you claim back for Bin charges?*

You can [broken link removed] to claim service charge/bin charges relief.

See also [broken link removed].


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## SarahMc

*Re: can you claim back for Bin charges?*



> All you have to do is retain the bin tags



This is impossible as the refuse collectors take the tags!


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## ClubMan

*Re: can you claim back for Bin charges?*



			
				SarahMc said:
			
		

> This is impossible as the refuse collectors take the tags!


 Tags come with a removeable serial number sticker which you are supposed to retain for tax relief purposes. Some don't but you get a receipt (e.g. from An Post) which serves the same purpose. I think it's all academic though since as far as I know bin tag relief is flat rated. See [broken link removed]. I think you just get the €195 @ 20% = €39 automatically regardless of how much you actually spend on tags. We're in a _DCC _bag tag collection area and get a flat rated relief for this which is way in excess of what we actually spend on tags most to date. However [broken link removed] suggests that such relief must be claimed manually which is not my experience (my underlining):


> *“Tag” system *
> 
> A variety of domestic refuse collection “tag” systems are operated throughout the country by both local authorities and independent contractors. The “tags” can be purchased from normal retail outlets as well as directly from the service provider. claims for relief for the cost of “tags” can be made directly to the Tax Office. Receipts will not normally be required.


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## ClubMan

*Re: can you claim back for Bin charges?*

Just got my updated statement of tax credits yesterday.

This year


> Service charges relief: €22


Last year:


> Service charges paid €195 = tax credit of: €39


 We are on pay as you go bin tags so should according to [broken link removed] be entitled to a flat rated (?) maximum of €195 @ 20% = €39.


> *2002 onwards* -
> 
> ...
> 
> _*Tag System*_ - Max Relief - €195 at the standard              rate of tax


 Note that the [broken link removed] states that no amount is needed for bin tag relief so I presume that they just grant the maximum as per last year.

Any idea why they are only giving relief of €22 (i.e. €110 @ 20%) this year?

On a related note our tax credits are now:


		Code:
	

[B]Tax Credits                  Self      Spouse[/B]

Personal Tax Credit         €3260
PAYE Tax Credit             €1490       €1490
Home Carer's Tax Credit      €770
Service Charges Relief        €22
Medical Insurance Relief     €127

Gross Tax Credits           €5719       €1490

SRCOP €41K

 Does that look right? My wife is not working at the moment which is why we have the _Home Carer's Tax Credit _and no married/both spouses working increase in the _SRCOP _of €23K. Is it normal for them to still include the _PAYE __Tax Credit _for the non working spouse in this case? Also, _Medical Insurance Relief _is in respect of employer paid premiums. These are included on my payslip and assessed at source for _BIK _tax and _PRSI _accordingly. Presumably this is why I should not expect to see any _BIK_ figure in the _Tax Credits Reduced By _section?

Other than the refuse charges issue is there anything else wrong or missing?

Thanks.


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## Lauren

*Re: can you claim back for Bin charges?*

What if the bin charge is part of your management fee, if you live in an apt?


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## ClubMan

*Re: can you claim back for Bin charges?*

As far as I know you need to get your management charge broken down into refuse charges and "other" and claim relief on the former.


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## Ham Slicer

Clubman,

The refuse issue is quite small - call Revenue and ask them to change it.  Tell them you spent over €200 on bin tags last year. That will sort that out.

I'm not sure why your wife's PAYE credit was included on your credit cert.  It makes no difference anyway as she's not working.  Obviously if she started working later in the year you would have to keep an eye on whethter she went over the €5,080 threshold to allow you to keep the home carer credit, as if she earned 15K you would end up owing €770 to tax man

Medical insurance - here's how it works.  Say your gross premium is €300.  Your employer pays €240 to VHI and pays the €60 tax relief to Revenue on your behalf (documented through form P11D).  Your are taxed on the gross amount of €300 - say at 42% = €126.  You are then entitled to the tax credit of €60.  So your medical insurance costs you €66 in this situation


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## ClubMan

Ham Slicer said:
			
		

> The refuse issue is quite small - call Revenue and ask them to change it.  Tell them you spent over €200 on bin tags last year. That will sort that out.


Last year I claimed it online and they just granted the full €195 @ 20% = €39 relief. I'm not sure why it changed this year so I've just requested it again for 2006 online and hopefully they'll eventually reissue the tax credits and/or _TDC _with the corrected amount. I realise that it's small but I like to maximise my tax reliefs/allowances... 


> I'm not sure why your wife's PAYE credit was included on your credit cert.  It makes no difference anyway as she's not working.


That's what I thought too. Perhaps they left it because she has not officially left work yet (i.e. no _P45_) but currently has no plans to return?


> Obviously if she started working later in the year you would have to keep an eye on whethter she went over the €5,080 threshold to allow you to keep the home carer credit, as if she earned 15K you would end up owing €770 to tax man


Yes - I realise that but thanks for pointing it out.


> Medical insurance - here's how it works.  Say your gross premium is €300.  Your employer pays €240 to VHI and pays the €60 tax relief to Revenue on your behalf (documented through form P11D).  Your are taxed on the gross amount of €300 - say at 42% = €126.  You are then entitled to the tax credit of €60.  So your medical insurance costs you €66 in this situation


Again I understand the mechanics but I was just wondering if the _BIK_ tax/_PRSI_ issue was taken care of through payroll rather than (as I think it used to be?) through a reduction of the tax credits. 

I guess everything looks OK so? Thanks a million for the feedback/advice.


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## ClubMan

Actually I rechecked my last and authoritative 2005 statement of tax credits (I actually received four corrected versions due to changes in circumstances before things settled down) and the refuse charges relief was also €110 @ 20% = €22 last year even though one of the earlier 2005 statements mentioned the €195 @ 20% = €39 figure. Does anybody know the significance of the €110 figure or why the €195 one mentioned above was not used on my final statement for 2005 or the new one for 2006? I can't find any reference to €110 and refuse charges on the _Revenue _site. Obviously I'll chase this up with them for last year and this (maybe when they get the PAYE online system working soon) but I'm just curious and confused now...


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## Omega

I'm a bit confused.....​Clubman gives the following example above...
*Tax Credits Self Spouse*

Personal Tax Credit €3260
PAYE Tax Credit €1490 €1490
Home Carer's Tax Credit €770
Service Charges Relief €22
Medical Insurance Relief €127...

I thought that Medical Insurance relief was granted by means of TRS and not via a tax credit as shown above.....Can anyone explain? Thanks.


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## ClubMan

Where an individual pays their own health insurance premiums from after tax income then they get tax relief at source. In this case my employer pays it on my behalf as part of my benefits package, I get charged _BIK _tax/_PRSI _through payroll but I claim standard rated relief on the premium through my tax credits. See [broken link removed]. I've told my colleagues that they are entitled to this credit but I don't think that any of them have bothered to claim it. I've also told them that they're liable to declare income tax on the _BIK _arising from our ESOP discounted share purchases but will they listen ...


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## Trustmeh

Did not know that, thanks CM.  Do I need to bring in my INsurance statement as proof to revenue?


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## ClubMan

I reckon you're not alone! To be fair to the _VHI _rep who came in to talk to us she did point out that we were entitled to tax relief on _BIK VHI_ payments. I don't think that you need to vouch for the premium. I think I just wrote to _Revenue _informing them of the situation and annual premium and they adjusted my tax credits. On the other hand I may have included a photocopy of the policy including premium details as well...


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## sysman

*Re: can you claim back for Bin charges?*

Clubman - Your Gross Tax Credits of €5719 is not the total of your itemised list, that totals at €5669 - have you omited a tax credit of €50 or is your total incorrect?



			
				ClubMan said:
			
		

> Just got my updated statement of tax credits yesterday.
> On a related note our tax credits are now:
> 
> 
> Code:
> 
> 
> [B]Tax Credits                  Self      Spouse[/B]
> 
> Personal Tax Credit         €3260
> PAYE Tax Credit             €1490       €1490
> Home Carer's Tax Credit      €770
> Service Charges Relief        €22
> Medical Insurance Relief     €127
> 
> Gross Tax Credits           €5719       €1490
> 
> [/QUOTE]


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## ClubMan

Well spotted - my mistake.  The _Medical Insurance Relief _figure is actually €177 and not €127. I have rounded cents to euros so if there is any remaining small discrepancy then that would explain it. 

Having reviewed my payslips I also realise why I received €177 relief on _VHI_ premiums even though the annual (12 month) premium is higher. The scheme only started mid year and before that I was still paying _BUPA _privately.


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## Omega

I'm sorry but I' still confused. I've read the Revenue FAQ link, particularly questions 20 and 21 but neither of these situations actually pertains in my case, where the employer pays 50% of the VHI contribution for the employees. However, the employer's contribution appears as a payment item on our payslips, therefore both PAYE and PRSI are charged on this benefit as if it were a BIK. The gross amount payable to VHI is then shown as a separate item under the 'deductions' column. Do I get a full/partial tax credit in this situation or is TRS being applied somewhere? Many Thanks.


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## ClubMan

Surely FAQ 21 covers your situation?


> *21. What is the position where the employer pays          50% of the medical insurance premium for an employee? How does it impact          on the employee's entitlement to Tax Credits? *        This is best answered by way of an example:
> 
> An employer discharges the full amount of the premium and recovers 50%          of the premium (net of TRS) from the employee.
> 
> Assume the Gross Premium is €1,000
> 
> TRS (Tax Relief at Source) €200
> 
> Net Premium € 800
> 
> Recovered from employee €400
> 
> The employer pays over €800 to the authorised insurer (€400          of which is recovered from the employee) and pays €100 TRS (amount          attributable to the €400 paid by the employer) to Revenue.
> 
> The taxable benefit (notional pay) is:
> 
> Cost to employer €900 (€800 premium paid + €100 TRS paid)
> Less amount made good by employee €400
> Notional Pay €500
> 
> The employee is entitled to a tax credit of €500 @ 20% in his or          her certificate of tax credits. He or she has already received credit          by way of TRS of €100 by paying the net (of TRS) premium of €400          direct to the employer.


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## ashambles

The revenue have a text message method of getting bin charges relief [broken link removed], might beat trying to get through to them by phone.


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## Ann-Marie

I am looking to claim tax relief on bin charges the two of us work do we both sign up for it or just one of us ?


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## ClubMan

I presume you split the charges whatever way you share them (e.g. 50:50) and claim relief in your individual amounts.


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## jfitzer

As far as I was aware the refuse credit is not based on a flat rate under the tag system, it is subject to a limit of €195 so if you spend more then you only receive €195 @ 20% , if you only have recipts for €150 you will only get €30 however if you are not on a tag system you can get relief on the whole annual bill, so if you annual charge is €400 then your relief is €80.  Queried before as to how they would know, it appear that Revenue know which areas are covered on bill pay and which are on tag system.  I have not heard that it has changed.


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## ClubMan

jfitzer said:


> As far as I was aware the refuse credit is not based on a flat rate under the tag system,


Yeah - as far as I know it used to be flat rated but is now based on the actual expenditure on labels/tags. I think they changed this last year or the year before and it wasn't obvious.


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## Ann-Marie

yes everything is split 50/50 so is it best just to let one of us claim it ours is charged yearly and per lift the bin has a chip on it


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## ClubMan

I guess so.


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## Ann-Marie

ClubMan said:


> I guess so.


thanks clubman


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## Cels13

Can we still claim for tax relief on bin collections where the management company doesn't provide an exact cost for bin collections after requesting for a fee breakdown. Apparently, the management company doesn't know the cost as it is not fixed????????????


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## jrewing

jfitzer said:


> As far as I was aware the refuse credit is not based on a flat rate under the tag system, it is subject to a limit of €195 so if you spend more then you only receive €195 @ 20% , if you only have recipts for €150 you will only get €30 however if you are not on a tag system you can get relief on the whole annual bill, so if you annual charge is €400 then your relief is €80. Queried before as to how they would know, it appear that Revenue know which areas are covered on bill pay and which are on tag system. I have not heard that it has changed.


 
How does this work in terms of period covered by charges ? For example, I paid for the 6 months June-Nov, and recently paid for Dec-May 2007.

Can I claim tax relief on both payments for the 2006 tax year ?


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