Latvians get EUR 12.79 million in tax refunds in first two weeks

RIGA - The Latvian State Revenue Service received 323,411 annual tax returns and paid out EUR 12.79 million in personal income tax refunds in the first two weeks since March 1, the date when people in Latvia can start filing their tax returns and claiming tax refunds for the eligible expenses.

The State Revenue Service said that the number of voluntary annual tax returns it had received since March 1 this year equaled one-third of the total number of such tax returns that Latvians had filed in 2017. The tax authority has estimated that during 2018 it may receive annual tax returns from up to one million people.

In most of the tax returns filed this year, people are seeking personal income tax refunds for their contributions to private pension funds or life insurance with savings. Tax refunds can be claimed also for medical expenses and education expenses, and there are other forms of tax relief that apply to certain categories of individual tax payers.

The State Revenue Service is receiving between 10,000 and 25,000 annual tax returns daily, with 93 percent of the returns filed online this year via the tax authority's Electronic Declaration System.