Thanks to our ‘Tell a Friend’ programme, if you have a friend who needs to file a tax return, you can help them out by telling them about us and win prizes for yourself. For every friend of yours   who is due a tax refund and applies with taxback.com  you get a cash reward .We’ll also enter you into our three monthly prize draws to win extra prizes.

Our most recent winner from the ‘Tell a Friend’ programme was My Tran who applied to taxback.com for aUStax refund. We were more than happy to help her get her refund and even happier when she told us we could also help her friend Phuong Hoang. Once she told her friend about us, we got started on her tax return right away and entered My Tran into our spring prize draw, where she managed to win a free tax refund for herself and her friend.

Every prize draw has different prizes; three months ago a customer was able to win a FREE tax refund for her friend through our programme, and in the draw before that our winner managed to double her refund after winning in the prize draw. Not only that, but if you introduce more friends to us, you could get extra benefits, such as receiving a ‘Tell a Friend’ agent certificate, which allows you to help your friends through the tax process and earn some extra commission for yourself in the process. There are no hidden charges or fees, just great prizes to be won, so what are you waiting for; get started now!

All you have to do to sign up and be in with the chance of winning amazing prizes is;

1. Register online
2. A member of our team with contact you with details
3. You start signing up your friends
4. We start entering you into prize draws

Have a friend you want to recommend to us? Register their details here! For more information on the ‘Tell a Friend’ programme check out our website or look and see what our other customers have to say.

Google’s European headquarters is in Dublin, and any purchase or transaction must go through this office rather than various destinations. Concerns about Google not following this procedure arose when Margaret Hodge, Chair of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, received a tip-off that  Google was selling advertisements and had invoiced customers within the UK.

The Head of Sales in Northern Europe, Matt Brittin, attempted to set the record straight by assuring Parliament that any European advertiser would deal directly with Ireland, and the UK cannot execute these sorts of transactions.

According to Ms. Hodge, in 2011 Google paid 6 million pounds in UK corporation tax, where their sales were worth 3.2 billion pounds, making it clear sales took place in the UK.

This isn’t the first time that Google has been criticised about the handling of its tax affairs. Other global giants such as Amazon and Starbucks have been accused of unethical tax practises in the past.

The man himself, Allan Dixon, is flying to Australia next month to give it all he’s got in a battle for the position of Outback Adventurer against Frenchwoman Aude Mayans and American Graham Freeman. The three will spend a week trekking through the Aussie outback searching for the best backpacker experiences and adventure trails for working holiday makers. The winner will get to work for six months working in the Northern Territory with a salary package of $100,000. Crikey!

The 26-year-old DCU graduate beat off 330,000 individuals to make it to the final through an aggressive media campaign which saw Allen setting up his own website for the competition as well as getting over 156,000 Facebook fans on his competition page, 7,000 YouTube video views and 300 new Twitter followers. As if that wasn’t enough, Allen’s campaign also managed to get some celebrity attention, including photo ops with top Irish Government ministers, appearances on Morning Ireland and 98 FM, as well as tweets from Kodaline and Bear Grylls!

A total of six jobs are on offer in this year’s Best Jobs in the World competition. Three finalists have been selected for each role and all will travel to Australia to compete in the final stage of the competition in June.

Tourism Australia announced the competition earlier this year as part of their 2013 tourism campaign. Tourism officials watched over 45,000 entries before they selected the three finalists in each category.

“It’s show time. The candidates now face their very own Australian working holiday – a week of tests and challenges which will ultimately decide who ends up winning these six dream jobs,” Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said today.

We wish Allan and all the other finalists the best of luck in the final.

To help you understand the UK Tax system better, we have revealed some of the most common tax myths we have met in our experience.

If I claim income tax refund, I will not be eligible for a pension.

Wrong!

If you have paid national insurance related to your pension, you will be able to receive a pension. Even if you claim tax back, you are still able to live and work in the UK and it does not affect your eligibility for a pension.

Applying for a refund will affect my stay in the UK.

Wrong!

Applying for a tax refund will not in any way affect your stay in the UK. In some cases, for example if you are working as self-employed or you have additional income, like rental or investment income, you may even be obliged to file a tax return. By filing a tax return, you are making sure that you are compliant with the UK tax laws, as in some cases you may have underpaid taxes. (See “Who needs to file a Tax Return?” to check if you are obliged to file.)

I can’t apply for a refund until I leave the UK.

Wrong!

Applying for a tax refund as a non-resident is not related to your intention to leave or stay in the country. You can apply while you are in the UK and even if you are still working! If you have worked in the UK at any time during the previous four years you can apply for a tax refund, no matter what your current employment status is or where you are living now. Neither your previous nor your current employers will be affected by your tax refund as it is paid to you by the government, not by the employer.

I can claim all the tax I paid back when I leave the UK.

It depends!

If you have earned less than the tax free allowance then you can claim back all of your tax. If you have earned more than the allowance, you will be able to claim a portion back. The amount will depend on how much you have earned and how much you have paid in tax. If you have worked and been resident in the UK and have left to live somewhere else during the last five tax years, you may be able to claim back some (only the overpaid amount) of the tax you have paid and on rare occasions, all of the income tax paid.

Everyone is due a refund when leaving the country.

Wrong!

If you have worked in the UK and paid tax at any point in the last 5 years then you are eligible to claim a tax refund from the government. However, if you have never worked or paid tax, you will not be eligible to receive a tax refund.

If you’re one of the many who has lost out on a UK tax refund due to a false myth, then don’t delay. Contact us today for your free tax refund calculation, chat to one of our advisors online, or register for a call-back - you may be surprised by the amount of unclaimed money belonging to you that is sitting in a tax office bank account!

Last year, the government gave loans and grants of £2.5 million for operating less prosperous warehouses, such as building a road to the warehouse in Swansea.

Despite the loans and the £4 billion the company comprised, they only paid a mere £2.4 million in corporation tax. The same situation happened in 2011, when Amazon admitted to paying just £1.8 million, even with sales adding up to £3.4 billion and more in grants.

It was not long before an uproar from British citizens and business owners started once again. There have been statements such as “It’s a disgrace,” “It’s anti-competitive, pushing British businesses that do pay their proper taxes at a disadvantage,” and “It shows yet again that the Government is making a political choice rather than an economic necessity.”

The outrage sparked last year when it was revealed that large, multinational companies such as Amazon, Starbucks and Google consistently avoided millions in UK taxes. Regardless of the revelation, a spokesman for the company claims, “Amazon pays all applicable taxes in every jurisdiction that it operates within.”

A petition signed by 166,000 booksellers and angered citizens was formed to call out the Government and stop the unfairness in the Amazon tax dodge.

Voicing her opinion on the subject, Margaret Hodge says “The Government should be clamping down on tax avoidance rather than slashing the welfare state, privatising the NHS and cutting legal aid for ordinary people.”