Limitations on tax refunds

Inland Revenue may hold all or part of a refund if:

• the company is expecting an income tax refund, and

• the credit balance in the ICA at 31 March 2019 is less than the refund.

If there have been additional credits to the ICA since 31 March 2019, the company may file an interim 2020 IR4J return in anticipation of an IR4 annual return being filed at a later date. Inland Revenue may then be able to release the refund.

Inland Revenue can apply non-refundable overpaid income tax to a company’s previous years’ income tax liabilities, where these debits exist, rather than transferring the credit forward to the next year’s provisional tax.

This avoids further payments having to be made to meet back-year debts.