i have committed the cardinal sin adn have never claimed back any taxes!!! That is my new year resolution so any advice on where/how to go about claiming and how long i can claim for is gratefully apprecaites?
You can backdate claims for up to 4 tax years - i.e. back to 2004 right now. Get details of your earnings and tax paid (e.g. P60s), and statements of tax credits for each year and then start checking what credits/allowances/relief you may not have claimed for and then let Revenue know. I would normally just figure out what info was missing, get some evidence of this and write to Revenue. But depending on what you are claiming or missing out on you might need to complete one or more forms or even a full Form 12(A?) for some years if your taxes are way out of whack or Revenue ask you to do this. You can estimate your tax bill for the various years using www.taxcalc.eu although the calculator does not cater for absolutely every possible credit/allowance.