Can you guess which are the few hours which generate most income for me each year? It is those which I spend on filling in and filing my tax return with the State Revenue Service! If the amount of overpaid tax refund received annually from the State Revenue Service (“SRS”) is divided by the time spent, the income earned in one hour is pretty impressive!
It is, therefore, a bit sad that a substantial part of people still let this opportunity to boost family budget pass them by. These same people often are heard complaining about surging prices and bills but at the same time we see that due to their own laziness or ignorance they fail to make use of the opportunity to just take the money they entitled to under law.
Excuses like ‘filing tax returns is too complicated’ are not valid for quite some time already. Firstly, filing the tax return no longer requires obtaining official statements from the employer or banks as the SRS has electronic access to that data. We, at the Institute, have also designed an electronic form to make it easier to fill in the return.
Moreover, this is the last year when annual tax returns will be accepted in paper-based form. Starting from 2012, the SRS’s Electronic Filing System will be the only way to submit tax returns. So, next year there will be one less argument – which has been commonly referred to up until now – that filing tax returns on paper is extremely time-consuming and means waiting in a long queue and communicating face-to-face with the SRS consultants.
By the way, if you plan to submit your return on paper this year, make sure you print out the necessary form before you go to the SRS. There are now notices put up in SRS offices that the SRS will not provide free annual tax return forms. While at that, also print out and sign two copies of the contract for using the Electronic Filing System.
Consequently, all you need for repayment of the overpaid taxes is receipts (with identity number shown on them) as proof of eligible expenses, which proves to be the stumbling block for many. If this has also happened to you, I recommend choosing to use one envelope, folder, piggy bank or any other location where you will, from now on, keep your receipts. Believe me, after a year you will be very grateful for having done so. After all, why not use the opportunity to recover from the state the money you lent to it?
For more on filling in the annual tax return, see the Suggestions section of the website.
