[I Demand A Refund!
Jamar Lizarraga
If you do not hold a Texas sales and use tax permit and you are the purchaser, you must first ask the seller for a refund of any tax paid in error. The seller can either grant the refund or give you Form 00-985, Assignment of Right to Refund (PDF), which allows you to file a refund claim directly with the Comptroller.
Note: If the Comptroller is currently auditing you for the tax type that was overpaid, ask the auditor about including any refund in the audit. This may decrease the penalty and interest assessed in the audit and increase your refund.
Generally, a person or business has four years from the date on which the tax was due and payable to make a refund claim. However, the statute of limitations (the amount of time a person has to request a refund) may be extended if:
The Comptroller's office uses supporting documentation to verify refund claims and can request additional information for each transaction during the verification process. The items can include, but are not limited to:
After the Comptroller's office has approved a refund claim, we will mail a refund check to the person or entity entitled to the refund. Factors such as the timely filing discount, penalties, credit interest or an existing liability can affect the refund amount.
We will send a refund check unless the claimant is set up to receive refunds by direct deposit. If you have not already been set up for direct deposit, contact the Revenue Accounting Division at 512-463-4561 to obtain Form 74-221, Tax Refund Direct Deposit Authorization to initiate the process to receive payments electronically.
The statute of limitations will not be tolled (does not end) until a refund claim includes all of the required elements. The Comptroller's office will notify the claimant of the additional information needed.
The Comptroller's office will notify the claimant if the refund cannot be granted in full or in part and will identify the reason(s) for the denial. The claimant can contest the denial by filing a refund hearing request or a notice of intent to bypass hearing within 60 days of the denial.
If a refund hearing is requested timely, the Comptroller's office can issue a written demand for all evidence to support the claim for refund. The evidence must be submitted within 60 days of the date of the demand notice or within 180 days after the date the refund is claimed, whichever is later. Documents not timely submitted as requested by the demand notice cannot be considered or introduced as evidence in a refund hearing.
If a notice of intent to bypass hearing is filed timely, the Comptroller may require a conference to discuss availability of additional supporting documentation that may assist in resolving any issues prior to proceeding to district court. If one or more issues are resolved, the person who submitted the notice of intent may amend or remove these issues from the notice upon conclusion of the conference. If one or more issues are not resolved, the person who filed the notice of intent may then bring suit in district court within 60 days after the date the conference concludes.
Tenants often ask if the landlord must give back the security deposit they were given at the beginning of the lease. Sections 92.101 through 92.110 of the Texas Property Code describe the legal protections tenants have when they pay a security deposit. Section 92.103 states:
When less than $20,000 is involved, the tenant can sue by going to the local justice of the peace office (justice court). These suits often do not involve attorneys. For more information on filing suit in justice court, please see our guide to Small Claims Cases.
Before a tenant files suit, the Austin Tenants Council recommends sending a refund demand letter to the landlord. Both parties may also want to consider mediation before going to court. Taking those steps could lead to an resolution that does not require going to court.
"Normal wear and tear" means deterioration that results from the intended use of a dwelling, including, for the purposes of Subchapters B and D, breakage or malfunction due to age or deteriorated condition, but the term does not include deterioration that results from negligence, carelessness, accident, or abuse of the premises, equipment, or chattels by the tenant, by a member of the tenant's household, or by a guest or invitee of the tenant.
According to Section 92.104(c) of the Texas Property Code, if a landlord uses a portion of a security deposit to repair damages, they are required to give an itemized list of all deductions if the tenant has paid the entirety of their rent and there is no controversy over the rent.
A 2021 state law allows landlords to give their tenants the option to pay a monthly fee with their rent instead of paying a security deposit. If a landlord takes this option, they must give their tenant written notice of:
Under this law, the landlord can choose to purchase insurance to protect the rental with the monthly fee. If they do so, the fee cannot be "more than the reasonable cost of obtaining and administering the insurance" purchased under this law. If the landlord files a claim under the insurance purchased with this fee, they can't make the tenant pay them for the same damages.
A client, which was quite rude, didn't like my job -it was fixed-price- ended the contract and now is asking a refund. My question is: If I give the client a refund..Will it avoid the bad feedback on my public profile? I really did my work and I deserve the money which was a small amount by the way, but I don't mind losing that amount of money for the sake of keeping a good profile score!
Feedback has already been given, and it's the private feedback that matters. It's what affects your JSS. Refunds only affect public feedback and it doesn't matter for JSS.I'd probably see how bad it is. If you're top rated you can have it removed.
I'm sorry to learn about your experience with this client. You should be able to leave feedback for this client in this section/page of the contract where it says "Your feedback to the client." Both you and the client will have an opportunity to leave private feedback for each other.
Also, since no money exchanged hands, this contract will not show in your Work History, but the private feedback (whether positive or negative) will affect your Job Success Score. You may read this help article for more information on how your score can be affected by this contract.
You could start something new here with that statement. Don't pay me, I'll work for free just so I can have a good profile score. And then you can copy that score, print it, and take it with you when you need gas. to buy groceries, and even to pay all kinds of bills. Just include that printed good profile score and you and everyone else using that way of thinking will be just fine.
As long as a freelancer does the work and satisfies the scope of work for the job/milestone, and the work is professional and excellent quality then the freelancer should keep the money. Although it's not your job to worry about other freelancers, it is your job not to fall into the mindset that you have and to reward this client for his rude behaviour and refund request.. You preformed a service, delivered a completed job, and (hopefully) did excellent work. You spent time and energy doing this work and should get paid for it. Refunding money just because a client asked for it teaches and reinforces the notion that all the client has to do is to ask for a refund and be rude and before they can blink an eye, the freelancer will gladly refund.
The damage is ALREADY done. If you refund the Public feedback will not be shown. But, the Private feedback will still be there and that is what effects your JSS. A job with no money earned affects a freelancers JSS.
Remember also that Upwork has said it tracks feedback from all "clients with a history of poor collaboration. If one of your clients has been flagged...then the client's feedback will not count against your score."
Preston and Kathy, I hear what you're saying, but IMO, it's pretty standard customer service to offer the client a refund if they're truly unhappy. Just yesterday I had dinner at a restaurant and didn't eat my dessert (it wasn't completely terrible, I just didn't care for it), so the waitress asked if there was anything wrong and then ended up taking it off my bill. I didn't demand this, but at the same time, I would have been pretty unhappy if she hadn't offered. And I also return clothing if I get it home and then change my mind about whether it goes with a certain pair of shoes or not. I don't think that it's good business to just say to a client, "Well, I did the work, if you didn't like it and can't use it, then tough luck."
Obviously, this creates problems in that some clients will complain just to get free work, but I honestly don't think that this is true in the majority of situations (though perhaps I'm being naive here; I've had hardly any bad experiences like this on Upwork).
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