International Banking

I thought I had made out pretty well working in Ireland, only having 2% deducted in taxes the whole time I was there. However, I had heard that I was entitled to a FULL refund of any taxes I paid as long as I could gather the appropriate paperwork and send it into the Irish Revenue Agency. Long story short, I was unable to track down all my paperwork, but found a company that would do it for me, for an undisclosed percentage of the refund. Having nothing to lose I signed on and put them to work. After 4 months of slow progress I received a cheque for €216. Unfortunately the only place that would cash a foreign check here in Scotland was by bank, which has a processing fee of £20. I didn't have much of a choice, so I agreed to the charge. Then I got a bill from TaxBack.com for €60.50 for their services (I thought this would have been deducted from the refund, but I assumed wrong). Conversing with TaxBack I learned that the only way I could pay this was with a money transfer from my UK bank account to their Euro account in Ireland; another £10 charge. All in all my C$325 rebate netted me C$170 - 47% taken in processing fees. Brutal.
In hindsight it would have been cheaper to fly to Ireland for the weekend and cash it there. Speaking of banking in Ireland; I have this account there, but have no idea how much money I have in it. They wouldn't let me have internet banking because I wasn't a permanent resident of Ireland, and I cannot check the balance using bank machines outside of Ireland (just the way the machines work). My plan now is to withdraw money from the account until it says I have insufficient funds and take the loss of the few Euro left it in.

Unfortunately I don't have the same good graces with the UK government, as there is no way to side-step the tax man here. Socialized medicine (of which I am only entitled to in emergency situations) takes 11%, while 22% more goes to general national tax. Luckily I am still regarded as a low earner for the time being and have only been paying 7.5% so far, but I foresee that rising in the near future. The fact that the tax on products and services is 21% (VAT - value-added tax, which is worked into the price of everything) and Council Tax (garbage/schools/fire/police) is around C$125/month, I have no idea how people afford to pay Stamp Duty on major purchases. [Stamp Duty is a fee that the government takes in addition to regular taxes on all vehicle or property sales/trades at a rate of up to 9% the value of the transaction]