Money: Six of the best: when it's worth staking a claim to a tax refund

* Received dividends?

If your income was under $38,000 and you received dividends, requesting a Personal Tax Summary is likely to prove worthwhile.

That's because the dividend imputation system - which gives credit for tax already paid by the company paying the dividend - has the net effect of taxing dividends at 33 per cent.

If you earn less than $38,000, that means your dividends will have been over-taxed, because you're in the 19.5 per cent tax bracket.

You could get back as much as $20 for every $100 of net dividends received (assuming they had full imputation credits).

You don't have to be a sharemarket investor to take advantage of this one - "dividends" can also include payouts from gas or power companies and unit trust distributions.

* Took a break?

If you took unpaid leave, were out of work or otherwise had interrupted earnings, you may qualify for a refund.

That's because the tax your employer deducts from each pay is based on the assumption that you'll go on earning at the same rate throughout the year.

An example: if you had a $50,000-a-year job for the first three months of the tax year, took six months unpaid leave, then went back to work, your total earnings would be $25,000. But the tax deducted from each pay is the same as it would have been if you'd earned the full $50,000.

By requesting a Personal Tax Summary you stand to get back about $1000 of the $6000 tax you paid (including ACC premiums) - mostly because your income is being taxed at a lower average rate, but also because you now qualify for the rebate for earning under $38,000.

* Claiming costs?

Wage and salary-earners can claim several costs against their tax bill.

They include premiums paid for income protection insurance, interest on money borrowed to invest (as long as the investment produces taxable income) and fees paid to someone else to complete a tax return.

If you paid for such things, you can subtract that spending from your taxable income as shown on your Personal Tax Summary, thus reducing your tax bill.

* Still at school?

If, any time during the tax year, you were under 15, or still at school and did not turn 18 before January 1, 2000, you could get as much as $156 by claiming the child rebate.

You get 15c for every dollar earned, to the maximum of $156 for earnings of $1040-plus.

Income from interest and/or dividends doesn't count, so to calculate your rebate you need to take your taxable income, subtract any interest or dividends then multiply what's left by 0.15.

* Earned less than $9880?

If you earned less than $9880 you may be able to claim this rebate. But it has several exclusions - for example, it doesn't apply if you or your partner were entitled to Family Support.

You can claim for every week in which you did 20 hours or more paid work, or would have done but instead got the community wage for sickness or an accident, or got accident compensation.

The rebate pays $14 for every week that qualifies, to a maximum of $728 (if you worked every week of the year but earned $6241 or less).

Above that the rebate reduces, reaching zero if you earned $9880.

* Joint account?

If you have a joint account, and you and your partner are in different tax brackets, you could be due a refund.

It depends which tax rate you elected for your interest earnings.

If you chose the higher earner's rate, all interest will have been taxed at that rate, even though half of it belongs to the partner in the lower tax bracket.

That partner can get back the excess tax by seeking a Personal Tax Summary and showing their share of the interest earned and the tax paid on it.