I've developed an Income Tax Refund Assessment Tool. Need feedback!

M

Myuser01

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I'm starting a social-enterprise in my spare-time to help young PAYE workers survive the cost of living crisis in Ireland.

I'd love to get some advice from the gurus on AAM. General website feedback and tax refund assessment tool feedback in particular.

If you're a tax accountant; feel free to let me know.

Please everyone, be totally honest...

myTaxHero.ie
 
1) Why are you working on a 4 year basis? Tax returns are done annually not on the basis of 4 years.

2) When I clicked on "Do I qualify?" , I was brought to the Revenue's website which is often unintelligible for most people. I was expecting a summary from you. In fact, there should be a summary of the qualification criteria on each page with links to Revenue for more information.

3) I have no idea where the figure of €940 comes from
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The individual numbers add up to far more than that. What is the difference between a Credit and a Relief? You should show the calculation:

4) What is a Chartered Tax Accountant?
These figures are estimates of how much you are owed by the Revenue Service. To find out how much you may owe the Revenue talk to a Chartered Tax Accountant.

5) I would have expected the site to tell me how it is calculated and how to claim it. Not to send me to someone who will charge me a fee.
 
Hi Brendan,

Thanks for taking the time.

1) you can claim back 4 years

2) yes. The revenue site is the only canonical (trusted) source. I'm not a tax accountant and I state clearly I don't give tax advice. Im a tech / marketing guy.

I encourage users to engage the services of a Chartered Tax Accountant. I'm hoping to work with such a professional.

I can't summarise personally and I'm not even sure a summary would be a good idea.

3) so 490 + 750 + 100 ( -400) =€940

The tuition relief shouldn't be a minus. Did you enter minus figures or is my formula incorrect? Either way, I'll have to fix. Thanks.

Definition from citizens info site: "Tax credits reduce the amount of tax you pay. What are tax reliefs? Tax reliefs reduce the amount of income that you pay tax on."

4) A Chartered Tax Accountant is someone who is trained in Tax Affairs and can authoritively give tax advice. Kinda like a lawyer is able to give law advice. Only a Chartered Tax Accountant isn't protected by law in this regard ie. you'd don't have to be a CTA to give tax advice.

5) I could definitely add the calculations. Thanks. For how to claim, see the CLAIM TAXBACK link in the menu. I'll defo add this link to the results page.

Great points, thanks Brendan :)
 
Myuser01 said:
A Chartered Tax Accountant is someone who is trained in Tax Affairs
Click to expand...

You are confused.

A Chartered Accountant is an accountant. They may or may not have a good knowledge of tax.

A Chartered Tax Advisor is a member of the Tax Institute who has completed some specialist exams

Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA)

The Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) programme meets the needs of those who work in full-time tax roles or aspire to develop their career in tax.
taxinstitute.ie taxinstitute.ie
 
Myuser01 said:
3) so 490 + 750 + 100 ( -400) =€940

The tuition relief shouldn't be a minus. Did you enter minus figures or is my formula incorrect? Either way, I'll have to fix. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I doubt I entered a - figure. I certainly didn't do it intentionally. I was not being paid to go to College.

But you should probably make it impossible to enter a - figure.

Brendan
 
As I said in an earlier thread

Brendan Burgess said:
It seems to me that you do not have the knowledge of tax practice which would be fundamental.

You need to acquire this knowledge and through sitting down with a tax consultant.

You will need to stay up to date.

You need a partner with a background in tax.



Brendan
Click to expand...
 
5) I've updated the link

The form design needs some TLC, the information hierarchy isn't clear.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
As I said in an earlier thread
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Agreed. I was hoping to get CAVA (Chartered Accountant Volunteer Service) to have a look. I haven't heard back from them.

The service is free and I'd expect the vast majority of users to just file their own returns using the videos and articles. The other 10% I'd like to refer to a CTA with a Webinar and get a referral fee to cover the bills.

Ideally I'd be looking for a CTA partner with a Webinar already running. And a Social Media presence.

Does anyone know of such a CTA? I'm bootstrapping the entire project.
 
I would expect that very few if any practising accountants would be interested in taking on work of this nature, less still paying referral fees for the privilege.

Put simply there isn't any money in it. And it's fiddly, time-consuming and uncertain work.

Take as an example the new Rent Tax Credit for which a claim requires input of a long jumble of dates, PPSNs and eircodes. A absolute nightmare even for accountants.

The uncertainty comes from promising someone they can expect to get say €500 back in a tax refund, and then finding they haven't disclosed to you some or other source of income that they had during year that had no tax deducted at source, meaning that they now owe a net balance to Revenue.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
You are confused.

A Chartered Accountant is an accountant. They may or may not have a good knowledge of tax.

A Chartered Tax Advisor is a member of the Tax Institute who has completed some specialist exams

Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA)

The Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA) programme meets the needs of those who work in full-time tax roles or aspire to develop their career in tax.
taxinstitute.ie taxinstitute.ie
Click to expand...

Nice! Thanks :)
 
T McGibney said:
I would expect that very few if any practising accountants would be interested in taking on work of this nature, less still paying referral fees for the privilege.

Put simply there isn't any money in it. And it's fiddly, time-consuming and uncertain work.

Take as an example the new Rent Tax Credit for which a claim requires input of a long jumble of dates, PPSNs and eircodes. A absolute nightmare even for accountants.

The uncertainty comes from promising someone they can expect to get say €500 back in a tax refund, and then finding they haven't disclosed to you some or other source of income that they had during year that had no tax deducted at source, meaning that they now owe a net balance to Revenue.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for this.

The idea is to help young PAYE workers who are being taken advantage of by some of the shadier tax refund companies on Insta and TikTok mostly.

Essentially to help young professionals, students and foreign workers survive the cost-of-living crisis.

There are tax pros who run paid webinars and charge around €25-35 per guest. Your point-of-view is enlightening though. :)

How should I proceed?
 
T McGibney said:
The uncertainty comes from promising someone they can expect to get say €500 back in a tax refund, and then finding they haven't disclosed to you some or other source of income that they had during year that had no tax deducted at source, meaning that they now owe a net balance to Revenue.
Click to expand...

The string of abuse you get over the phone when someone who thinks they are going to get €500 back, ends up owing money.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
I doubt I entered a - figure. I certainly didn't do it intentionally. I was not being paid to go to College.

But you should probably make it impossible to enter a - figure.

Brendan
Click to expand...
I've locked-down all the number inputs on the form.

I'll have a look at the tuition formula in a while. :)
 
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