email enquiries from our beneficiaries in 2023/24
new callers to our helpline in 2023/24
pageviews on our website in 2023/24
Our aim is simple, we want to prevent or reduce poverty by ensuring that people on low incomes get the support they need to pay the right amount of tax. That they do not fall into further financial hardship paying tax debts they may not even owe. But tax is complicated, stressful and, like other financial difficulties, often linked to mental health problems.
By resolving tax problems, we are also able to provide some relief from this very real source of stress and anxiety. We do this by providing free, expert tax advice and support to people who cannot get access to the professional help they need.
Our work promotes long-term financial wellbeing. We improve the financial resilience of low-income taxpayers by supporting them to pay the right amount of tax; we empower people by giving them the knowledge, resources and confidence to manage their tax affairs.
Our work provides better long-term economic security for people. We do this by meeting the need for specialist tax help and advice. Most importantly, we ensure that no one is disadvantaged by the tax system just because they cannot afford to pay for the specialist help they need.
You can view our latest annual report here.
"Thank your for your emails I cannot begin to describe the sense of relief I feel and I thank you so much for what you have done for me.
This is all such brilliant news. My other debts are very small in comparison and now that I have control of my own money I will be able to repay them over the next couple of years, it’s achievable now and I can work towards becoming debt free. Wow I still can’t believe this I feel so lucky and so relieved.”
When we asked our partners in other charities what their clients said about tax, they said things like ‘it’s complicated’, ‘they worry about debt’, and ‘they are anxious and don’t know where to start’. But after speaking to our advisers about their problem, people we helped used very different language to express how they felt, expressing the very positive difference a phone call to us makes.
Despite not owning a computer, and struggling to fully understand her tax return forms, Tess diligently prepared her own tax returns for several years.
She had an annual income of less than £10,000, which was made up of her state pension, a small additional pension, and some self-employment income. However, she had also been including housing benefits, of which she received £3,000 per year, not realising that this income is not taxable and should not have been included.
Tess’s friend informed her that she had been completing her tax returns incorrectly, so Tess reached out to TaxAid. On investigation, it turned out that she had made this same mistake on two further tax returns.
We contacted HMRC and requested an amendment to her latest tax return, but unfortunately, the two other returns were out of time to be resubmitted. We submitted an overpayment relief claim.
This was accepted by HMRC and Tess received a refund for £1,064.63. She now understands not to include housing benefits on her tax returns and can accurately complete these going forward. It’s a simple fix, but one that has saved Tess from increased financial hardship. She now has received a refund of her tax overpayment and will be paying less in tax each year going forward.
Please give what you can afford to help remove the stress and anxiety of a tax problem.
Support us through fundraising, doing something fun or challenging and asking people to sponsor you and/or your team.
Find out how to make a tax-effective gift in your will to support people struggling with their taxes
