There’s something just delicious about getting a windfall from HMRC – however large or small.

Not just because getting a cheque in the post – or indeed anything that is not a bill – is a rare treat.

But because every year we are handing over more of our cash to the taxman – so it’s particularly sweet when the situation reverses.

HMRC is able to swipe an ever-growing proportion of our incomes thanks to frozen income tax thresholds, which haven’t budged since 2021 and won’t until at least 2031 under current plans.

Had they risen with inflation, we would be able to earn an extra £4,900 a year by 2031 without paying and an extra £20,100 before being whacked with 40 per cent tax at the higher rate.

Even if there are no further tax rises in today’s Budget, we’ll still be feeling the pinch for years to come.

My advice? Don’t take it lying down.

Millions of us are owed tax refunds that we don’t claim.

Don’t be put off thinking it’s a hassle – I did it last week and got a cheque for a few hundred pounds. 

Yes, I had to phone HMRC to get it, but the time waiting on hold was surprisingly short – no more than ten minutes – and when I got through the representative was very helpful.

Once I received the cheque, I didn’t even have to search around in vain trying to find a bank branch that hasn’t been shuttered to pay it into.

I was able to pay the cheque in through my online banking app by taking a picture of it. My cheque was a refund of tax paid on charitable donations over several years.

When you give to a registered charity, those donations are supposed to be free of tax. They should be so long as you pay through the Gift Aid scheme – a very straightforward process.

The charity gives you a form to fill in to make sure your donation qualifies – you need to input a few simple details such as your name and address.

You need to be a UK taxpayer to qualify – and your donations cannot be more than four times the amount of tax you paid in that tax year.

The charity can then claim back tax from HMRC. It receives 20 per cent – the amount of tax that you pay if you’re a basic rate taxpayer – which amounts to an extra 25p for every £1 you give. So they’re quids in.

However, if you’re a higher or additional rate taxpayer, you can claim the extra portion back that the charity hasn’t – in other words, the difference between the tax you’ve paid on the donation and what the charity has received.

Say, for example, you donate £100 to charity. It can claim Gift Aid to bring your donation up to £125. 

However, the charity assumes you’re a basic rate taxpayer so only claims 20 per cent. 

If you’re a higher rate taxpayer you’ve paid income tax at 40 per cent on that donation – so you can claim back another £25 (£125 x 20 per cent). 

You won’t get it automatically. You must either declare it on your self-assessment tax return, or by contacting HMRC, as I did.

You can claim for donations made in the past four years. You simply tot up how much you’ve given each tax year, phone up and tell HMRC a figure for every year. It will either give you a tax refund through your tax code or by sending you a cheque.

There are several easy wins like that.

The most valuable is tax relief on pensions. Pensions remain one of the most tax-efficient ways of saving. Every penny you pay in should be free of tax – unless you’re a very high earner.

So, if you’re a basic rate taxpayer, if you put in 80p, the taxman will top it up to £1. If you’re a higher or additional rate taxpayer, you only need pay in 60p or 55p respectively to be topped up to £1.

But not everyone gets the tax relief they’re due. If you pay into a personal pension, a self-invested personal pension (Sipp), or have a workplace pension that is a so-called ‘relief at source’ scheme, you may have to claim any tax relief above the basic rate.

You can do this through your self-assessment tax return or by getting in touch with HMRC. More than £1billion of tax relief is potentially being left unclaimed every year – around 800,000 people are missing out.

Think what that extra money could be doing in their pensions. Not only are they missing out on the tax relief, they are also losing out on the effect of compounding returns on them.

Also frequently overlooked is the marriage allowance, which allows couples who are married or in a civil partnership to lower their combined income tax bill.

To benefit, one of you must normally have an income below your personal allowance – of £12,570 – and the other must pay basic rate tax.

You can transfer £1,260 of your personal allowance to your husband, wife or civil partner, resulting in a saving of up to £252. More than two million eligible couples don’t claim it. Go to gov.uk/marriageallowance if you are one of them.

These are just three pots you could be due. There are plenty more. For example, make sure you don’t hand tax to HMRC on your nest egg – use an Isa to protect it. 

Taxes are rising – there’s little escape from that. So when you have the opportunity to send HMRC a bill in return – take it. It’s time to fight back.