P21 Balancing statement

Hi, sitting here in a bit of shock,
we just got a letter to my husband from the revenue, it is a PAYE Balancing Statement (P21) for the tax year 2004. It is saying that we owe them €2827. I have absolutely no idea on tax, so haven't a clue about it. Why would this have come out of the blue for such a long way back. Spoke to hubby, i know that you can request the P21, but he has not done this. Just a bit freaked by this, what should we do next, do we just pay it or how do we check out if it is right or not?
Any help gratefully received!
Thanks
Jam

JAM said:

Why would this have come out of the blue for such a long way back.

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There are innumerable possibilities as to how this could have arisen now - e.g. a random check by Revenue uncovering an outstanding tax liability due to mistakes on tax/PRSI deducted via payroll. Did Revenue give any details about the liability other than the amount? Was your husband PAYE or self-employed at the time?

what should we do next, do we just pay it or how do we check out if it is right or not?

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You need to check that this is correct and that Revenue have all relevant information for calculating tax for the relevant year(s). If you don't know how to do this yourself then you probably need to get professional advice. Requesting a P21 balancing statement alone probably won't help since this is most likely what Revenue did unilaterally. Unless they are missing some information that would reduce your tax bill then the resulting figure probably won't change. Maybe MABS can help with this if you cannot afford professional advice but I'm not sure that they would necessarily provide such a service?

When such an outstanding liability arises you may be able to arrange to have it paid gradually through a deduction to your normal tax credits rather than having to pay it in a lump sum.

Did you put in a claim for anything, e.g. tax relief on medical costs, etc. I ask this because I have never heard of the Revenue issuing a balancing statement out of the blue. It is usually triggered by an employee submitting a tax claim of some sort.

What you should do is get your P60s from 2004, and check them against the P21.

Also, check the P21 to ensure that you got all your tax credits and tax allowances, etc.

You should be able to find out if and how you were undertaxed originally.

You may also need to do a Form 12 return if Revenue are missing significant details required for the correct calculation of your tax/PRSI for previous years. If the missing information is more limited then simply writing to them with the details may suffice.

The previous post makes sense but bear in mind that it's always possible that the P60 (and payslips) issued were in error and the wrong tax/PRSI deductions were made for the salary received so don't necessarily assume that the P60 is authoritative.

Thanks very much,
Sorry for the panicky post! Just the shock. We have just buried out baby daughter a few weeks ago, and this is just added stress that I really don't need.
We have rung our friend who is an accounts auditor so will know more than us, she is going to pop over this evening. Hubby has a better understanding of it all than I do much to my shame, I should learn more.
So hopefully she will help us.

Thanks again, I'll let you know what happens.

Sorry to hear about your loss.

In preparation for the "review" of your tax affairs try to locate/collate all relevant documentation including payslips, P60s, statements of tax credits etc. Along with other details of credits/allowances to which you were entitled (and claimed or not at the time) you should be in a good position to trawl through the details and ascertain what tax/PRSI should have been paid and if/how this differs from what was actually paid.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Been through similar. Hope this is not insensitive, and perhaps you already know this, but you are most likely entitled to a Bereavement Grant.http://www.welfare.ie/publications/sw47.html

In my experience The revenue are very helpful if you give them a ring and have a few questions.

Thanks aircobra, not insensitve at all, we were given the form for that in the hospital, however advised we cannot apply for it until we have the death cert. Our baby died just after birth, and at the time it was an unexplained death so they had to do an autopsy, and it seems once the coroner is involved the death cert can take some time to be issued.
Thanks again though, I think it is something like €635.

Normally €850 according to [broken link removed].