Claiming subsistence for 2008, querying letter received

[baldyman27]

I sat down with my accountant at the end of January to go through my first years trading as a limited company. Needless to say, didn't pay myself very much in that first year but by Jan I could afford to give myself a rise. Accountant pointed out that I was entitled to claim subsistence which made things easier and also said that I could make a back claim for subsistence for 2008 (I hadn't claimed any). This was duly filed.

I got a letter from revenue today informing me of the discrepancy in the records showing a liability in my favour and asking me to explain in detail, in writing how this had arisen.

I have no problem whatsoever with this, as a taxpayer I'm glad that they are so thorough (if a little slow), I'm just wondering is this a new phenonemon brought about by the current difficulties? I.e. were they always this diligent or is it only in the last 12 months or so? The figure isn't huge, just over 2g. More curious than anything else.

 

[papervalue]

I sat down with my accountant at the end of January to go through my first years trading as a limited company. Needless to say, didn't pay myself very much in that first year but by Jan I could afford to give myself a rise. Accountant pointed out that I was entitled to claim subsistence which made things easier and also said that I could make a back claim for subsistence for 2008 (I hadn't claimed any). This was duly filed.

I got a letter from revenue today informing me of the discrepancy in the records showing a liability in my favour and asking me to explain in detail, in writing how this had arisen.

I have no problem whatsoever with this, as a taxpayer I'm glad that they are so thorough (if a little slow), I'm just wondering is this a new phenonemon brought about by the current difficulties? I.e. were they always this diligent or is it only in the last 12 months or so? The figure isn't huge, just over 2g. More curious than anything else.

not sure what reclaim is.

is it corp tax refund-can not see them query a 2k refund.

is it p35 tax refund-salary on p35 might have been very low compared to tax paid

is it personal tax refund.

the only reason it would be quered is if a new form was put it to over ride a previous form, might be natural just to ask for reason for difference- might be just testing confidence of you response that you know what you are talking about and just not some one chancing their arm

 

[baldyman27]

Papervalue, thanks for the reply. I am MD of the company and pay myself a salary, so its a personal tax issue AFAIK. Basically, the company paid me x amount in 2008, keeping myself in the lower tax bracket. Come 2009, there was sufficient funds in the company to award myself an increase. When I mentioned subsistence to my accountant, he was able to use this to effectively give me more money in my own pocket without increasing my taxes significantly.

He then said that I could claim subsistence for 2008 also, which I did. It was claimed as a refund rather than a credit (hope I'm explaining that properly). I don't know if a form had been submitted previous to that although the letter did mention P35. I guess the salary might have been low compared to tax/prsi paid as there were no extras such as subsistence/travel, etc.