Frequently Asked Questions

The service is provided by The Tax Refund Company, which is the trading style of Personal Taxation Services Limited, the UK's No.1 tax refund specialists. We have already saved taxpayers over £100 million through tax refunds and future savings through altered tax codes. We have worked with over 2.2million individual clients and our services are promoted to the employees and members of many of the most well known organisations in the UK. Over 90% of the UK's trade union members are offered our service by their Trade Union.

You may not have claimed all the tax allowances you could have claimed during the last 6 years. If you didn’t know they exist, you’re unlikely to have claimed them. Alternatively, HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs) may have made a mistake in your tax code.

Yes. But that presupposes that you know exactly which areas to look at, how each tax allowance should have been applied, and what questions to ask HMRC. You must also know the answers HMRC give are correct, which may not always be the case. If you do manage to get yourself a refund, how would you know you've received everything you should have? You may have missed out on a large refund that only a professional tax expert would notice. What if by talking to HMRC, they tell you that you owe them money?! This may be correct but the amount you owe may be much less than they tell you. Having a professional tax expert handle the case for you means you are never on your own.

We charge a fee of 41 pence from each £1 we get back for you. There is no minimum fee, so it doesn't matter how small your refund, you will always receive 59 pence from every £1 we recover. We also do not "cherry-pick" cases that look like producing the largest refunds. Our fee structure allows us to carry out a full and complete review for every client. If you are due a refund, even if it's just a few £'s, we'll get it back for you and send you 59p from every £1 we get back. We'll do this even if we lose money.

This depends on how you look at it. Without using our service, there's little chance you will recover any tax you have paid in error, so you could look at this as 59p in the pound gained, rather than 41p in the pound lost. You also need to consider the alternatives - either contacting HMRC yourself (as discussed above) or paying an accountant a fee of typically £100 - £150, whether or not you get a refund. You could pay an accountant and find you owe more tax!

If your case becomes complex, or HMRC start asking your accountant lots of questions, or loses your claim and asks your accountant to resubmit your claim, then your fees will rise rapidly. Unfortunately, you won't know how much it will cost you until you complete the process, and then it's too late, especially if you don't get a refund! Your final option is to do nothing. However, bear in mind that over 3 in 10 clients using our service receive a refund, so in doing nothing, there's a greater than 30% chance you will lose your entire refund, which is the same as paying HMRC a fee of 100%!

If you are paying tax or have done in the last 6 years, it's worth you applying for our service – remember, if we can’t get a refund, there’s no fee.

You can either click on "Our Service" on the links at the top of the page or use the "Apply Today" link found at the bottom of this answer.This will take you through to our application form where you'll be asked to provide the basic information we need to start the process. We will then assess your answers and if we believe that there’s a chance you may be due a refund, we'll email you for more information to help us substantiate a claim.

We will also ask you to sign the relevant forms that allow us to act as your HMRC agent and claim any refund due to you. Please treat any request for more information as a priority and respond as soon as possible. Any delay could mean that you miss out on some or all of your refund as HMRC set strict time limits for applying for a refund.

Yes. If you've paid tax at any time in the last 6 years, it’s worth using our service.

The whole process is completed in a simple, easy to follow manner. The first set of questions simply allow us to pick up on the main areas for tax allowances. If we need to, we'll ask you for further information at a later stage. You should be aware that the assessment is based on the information you supply. If you want to supply any additional information you think may be of use, please do so. It is better to supply too much information, rather than too little. Let us decide whether it’s of use or not.

Don’t worry. Provide what information you can but in every case, you must return the paperwork we send you or reply to our emails, because even though you can’t provide the information we ask for, doesn’t mean that we can’t still get you a refund. We'll always do our best to process your claim with the information you've given us.

It helps speed up your claim if we've your original latest P60, although a copy of your payslip will be acceptable. In all cases, your original documentation will be returned to you once we've completed our work.

Write to us quoting your reference number and stating the date you need the documents by, and we'll return the documents to you. Please address your letter to:

Client Services Dept.
The Tax Refund Company,
Grosvenor House,
St Thomas Place,
Stockport,
SK1 3TZ.

The average time it takes to review your affairs is 2-3 months assuming you reply to any information requests promptly. However, if we need information from third parties, this can delay the process. Once we submit a refund claim to HMRC, you will be advised accordingly. HMRC will take between 6 - 8 weeks to deal with simple claims and possibly 30 weeks or more for complex claims. Unfortunately, the process is also dependant on the efficiency of the particular tax office handling your claim. Some cases take several years to win, but if we believe you’re owed money, we'll do everything in our power to recover it for you, no matter how long it takes! At all times we’ll be monitoring the progress of your claim and every 6 weeks a reminder will be automatically sent to HMRC.

We’ll write and tell you that according to the information you have supplied, you’re not owed a refund and at the same time, we’ll return any documents you sent to us.

This is extremely unlikely. If you do owe tax, we’ll ONLY inform you. You should then inform HMRC. You need to bear in mind that had you not used our service, HMRC could have discovered your underpayment through their own systems and requested payment at ANY time in the future. In addition, if they discover underpayments themselves, they typically charge interest and penalties. It’s therefore in your interest to contact HMRC as you’re likely to avoid penalties and interest. However, if we believe there are reasons why you don’t have to repay some or all of the money you owe, (there are various reasons why this may be the case) we will at your request, liaise with HMRC to agree this. This will be FREE OF CHARGE as our fee guarantee is No Refund = No Fee.

We have a dedicated Underpayments Department. Over 50% of the cases this department investigates result in the client not owing the money, or owing less than HMRC is demanding. If you send us a completed claim form together with a copy of the underpayment notice from HMRC, we will review your case and see if we can reduce the underpayment, have the underpayment cancelled, or even obtain a refund!

Once we have assessed your situation, we will write and inform you of the potential outcome. If we reduce or cancel your underpayment, our fee is 41% of the amount of money we have saved you (i.e.. if we reduce your underpayment by £100, our fee with be £41). If we obtain a tax refund, our fee will be 41% of the value of the refund.

We have an idea but we allow HMRC to make the calculation and then check it on your behalf.

You’ll receive an assessment from HMRC telling you how much you are due and that they are sending your refund to your agent. (Your agent will be shown as PTS or Personal Taxation Services). We’ll also receive a copy of this assessment.

HMRC will send your refund cheque to us. Based on your written authority, we'll deduct our fee and send the balance to you. You should receive your cheque within 28 days of the date shown on the Assessment letter from HMRC. Please note 28 days is only a guide - local or national postal strikes, or changes in the way HMRC issue assessments and refunds, may affect this.

Sometimes HMRC makes a mistake and sends the cheque directly to you. When this happens, you must telephone us on 0845 058 2200 and inform us immediately. We can then send you an invoice for our fee which must be settled within 28 days. Whether you receive your refund cheque from us or directly from HMRC, you are legally responsible for payment of our fee. If you don’t tell us that you've received a refund cheque, there may be a delay before we’re told by HMRC. However, we'll always be told eventually as every claim we submit must be completed.

Yes, but please make sure you've read these FAQ’s FULLY before calling, otherwise your case may be delayed unnecessarily. Our helpline number for existing clients is 0161 968 7300. At times of peak calls, you may have to leave a message and we’ll return your call within 48 hours or the 2nd business day. Please be aware that we’ll only be able to return your call once, so in the event that we return your call and we are unable to speak with you or leave a message, you’ll have to call us again.

Yes, but please make sure you've read these FAQ’s FULLY before calling. In the first instance you should telephone our application information line on 0161 968 7388. If having listened to the information provided, you still have questions, you will be given another number to call where you can speak with someone directly.

These are typically payments made to a professional body that relate to your employment, keeping you up to date with current issues. An example of this would be if you were a nurse and held member of The Royal College of Nursing. Some Trade Union subscriptions are treated in the same way as professional subscriptions by HMRC, so if in doubt, tick the box.

If your children are over 25 there is no need for you to include this information.

Yes. If you have an application form that you have not already filled in, you may copy this for them. If not, please see question 7 to explain how they can apply for the service.