Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 section 865

Claims for repayment, interest on repayments and time limits for assessment

Section 865 establishes the general right to repayment of overpaid tax and imposes a four-year time limit within which repayment claims must be made.

• A person who has overpaid income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax, USC, income levy, domicile levy, residential zoned land tax, vacant homes tax, or Pillar Two top-up taxes — including related interest, surcharges, penalties, and clawback amounts — is entitled to a repayment, provided a valid claim is made within four years after the end of the chargeable period to which it relates.
• A valid claim requires that the return or statement contains all the information Revenue may reasonably need to determine the repayment; where the claim arises from an error or mistake in a return, the return and self-assessment must be amended under section 959V before the claim is treated as valid.
• Revenue may repay overpaid PAYE tax to non-self-assessment taxpayers without a formal valid claim where they are satisfied from available information that tax has been overpaid, but not where the four-year time limit has already expired.
• Where another provision of the Acts provides a shorter time limit for a repayment claim, that shorter limit applies; where another provision provides a longer time limit, the four-year limit under this section takes precedence.