Persons who have submitted an income tax return can check the amount of income tax due or overpaid and to be refunded by logging into the e-services environment. Customer’s balance of claims and liabilities is displayed on the dashboard, as well as on the “Overview of claims” page of the e-services environment. The amount of tax payable is displayed as a positive number and the amount of tax to be refunded is displayed as a negative number, i.e. with a minus sign. If a customer is subject to a refund of overpaid income tax, the customer has two options.
One option is to leave the amount of income tax to be refunded in your prepayment account to cover future liabilities. “Future liabilities can include, for example, land tax, the first part of which must be paid by 31 March, or motor vehicle tax, the first part of which must be paid by 16 June this year,” said Madis Laas, Head of the ETCB’s Income Tax Department.
If the amount of income tax to be refunded is greater than the amount of tax liability with a future due date, the balance is displayed with a minus sign. “For example, if a person is to be refunded 100 euros of income tax and the future claim for motor vehicle tax is 75 euros, the balance of -25 euros will be displayed under “Overview of claims”. However, this does not mean that the amount to be refunded has already been used to cover motor vehicle tax. The amount left in the prepayment account will remain there until the due date for payment of the tax,” Laas noted.
If the amount of income tax to be refunded is less than the amount of tax liability with a future due date, the balance is displayed as positive in the e-MTA. The customer can transfer the missing amount to the prepayment account. Tax liabilities are performed from the prepayment account automatically upon the due date for their payment.
The other option is to receive the refundable income tax in your bank account. “In this case, care must be taken to ensure that a necessary amount is transferred to the prepayment account by the due date of payment of future tax liabilities. All tax liabilities that have not been paid yet or are due in the future can be viewed in the e-services environment by selecting “Accounting” – “Claims” – “Overview of claims”,” Laas explained.
It is important to keep in mind that the obligations that have passed the due date are first paid from the income tax to be refunded. After that, the remaining overpaid income tax will either remain in the prepayment account to cover liabilities with a future due date or will be transferred to a bank account. Claims with the same due date are complied with based on the sequence set out in the Taxation Act.
The ETCB will start to refund the overpaid income tax to customers who have submitted the tax return in the e-services environment from 5 March, whereas the time of the refund does not depend on the time of submission of the tax return. The refunding of overpaid income tax to customers who have submitted the tax return on paper form starts on 18 March. The final deadline for refunds is 1 October, the same as the deadline for paying additional income tax.
Last year's income can be declared until 30 April. More information on submitting the income tax return for 2024 can be found on the website of the ETCB.
