income tax relief on mortgage payments

I rang the tax office regarding interest relief on mortgage payments - I got through to a less than helpful person. Anyway I bought a house in March of 2001 and never claimed back on the mortgage relief. I heard on the radio that you can still make claims going back to 2001. I was wondering when the new system of getting the relief direct from the bank. On a joint mortgage of 100€ does anyone know what I would be due back - it was from 03/01.

the advice from the tax office was to dig out all supporting documentation but I got the feeling I would be waiting till the 12th of never for a reply on that.
Any help would be appreciated as to the best next step.

riddles said:

I heard on the radio that you can still make claims going back to 2001.

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No - you can backdate claims up to 4 years so this means 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002 only.

I was wondering when the new system of getting the relief direct from the bank.

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If you mean when did they start granting owner occupier mortgage interest relief at source (i.e. at the lender's end) then it was 2001. See [broken link removed].

On a joint mortgage of 100€ does anyone know what I would be due back - it was from 03/01.

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You mean €100K? At what sort of rates over the past few years? The maximum available to a FTB in the first 7 years of the mortgage would be €66.67 per month per joint mortgage holder.

the advice from the tax office was to dig out all supporting documentation but I got the feeling I would be waiting till the 12th of never for a reply on that.

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That's a bit unfair. I have generally found Revenue to be quite responsive in recent years. And they can hardly do anything unless you send them some details of your case.

Any help would be appreciated as to the best next step.

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Write to them with details of your mortgage (e.g. copies of annual statements) and copies of your P60s for the relevant years and ask them to process your backdated claims for interest relief. Also make sure that you go onto relief at source from now on.

You will need to fill out the following pdf form : [broken link removed] to claim mortgage interest relief for preceding tax years. Print this form, fill it out and FREEPOST it to the Collector General's Office, TRS Section, Sarsfield House, Francis Street, Limerick. Please note you can only claim for the four preceding tax years to the current tax year, i.e. 2005, 2004, 2003 & 2002. You cannot make a claim for a refund of tax prior to 2002. You will probably need to call your bank to find out how much mortgage interest you have paid in previous years. Ask them a Certificate of Interest paid for each tax year. For the current tax year you can apply online for mortgage interest relief at www.revenue.ie