I saw something on Facebook earlier about people who wear a uniform for work and have to wash it themselves. Apparently they can claim a tax rebate for doing so.
It got me thinking. Can those of us that are employed claim the tax back for things we have to pay for in order to do our job? ie CPC courses, digi cards, licence renewals etc?
What about sunglasses or coffee or prostitutes?
What about the £1500 I spend a year on getting to work and back?
What about the cost of the training itself. It cost me nearly £3000 to get my C+E. I wouldn’t be able to do my job without it. Can I claim the tax back?
How would an extremely lazy person like myself go about doing such a thing and what else are we entitled to claim for?
you can claim for washing your uniform. however, if you do nights out, then this will probably be included in your subsistence living allowance (night out money).
you can’t claim for getting to work and back.
if your boss asks you to go to another depot now and again, then you can claim mileage allowance as it’s not your normal place of work.
you can claim any money that you spend on training to advance your career.
you can claim for licence renewal, digi card, and passport renewal.
SmashedCrabFace:
I saw something on Facebook earlier about people who wear a uniform for work and have to wash it themselves. Apparently they can claim a tax rebate for doing so.
It got me thinking. Can those of us that are employed claim the tax back for things we have to pay for in order to do our job? ie CPC courses, digi cards, licence renewals etc?
On agency, I’m able to claim for ANY expense directly related to doing my job.
What about sunglasses or coffee or prostitutes?
As a night driver, I cannot claim for sunglasses, nor rolls of carpet alas.
What about the £1500 I spend a year on getting to work and back?
To make money on “mileage expenses” you need to work somewhere easy to get to, but far away. I’d rather work 50 miles down the M2/A2 (50 mins to get there) than across the far side of Maidstone, since it takes me twice that time in the rush hour traffic, and only awards half the mileage.
What about the cost of the training itself. It cost me nearly £3000 to get my C+E. I wouldn’t be able to do my job without it. Can I claim the tax back?
I know you can’t claim for something more than 6 years in the past - too far gone!
How would an extremely lazy person like myself go about doing such a thing and what else are we entitled to claim for?
Erm. I think if I went down THAT road, I’m gonna get moaned at yet again!
Get it all offset via the agency you work for. If you work FT, you’re not entitled to Mileage, as it is a chosen regular commute.
Uniform/PPE allowances are usually automatically included, even on FT jobs. I had my tax allowance increased by £80 a year for this purpose during my employment at RM for example.
If the allowance for laundry isnt included in the tax allowance already take a look at [MSE website](http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/uniform-tax-rebate) for information. Your employer *may* pay for your digi card, medicals, DCPC, C, C+E training & licence renewals, but they are not obliged to do so. IF you was an office worker sat in front of a computer screen, theyd be obliged to pay for an eye test to ensure no damage was done to your eyes while using such equipment, but as a driver, I doubt your employer would pay for glasses etc, the only way I`d see that happening is if the company opperates & contributes to a cash rebate health scheme (HSA, westfield health etc). AS Winseer states your not allowed mileage allowance for travel to your regular place of work either.
Winseer:
I know you can’t claim for something more than 6 years in the past - too far gone!
I only had my medical for the provisional in May 2011 and I passed my C+E in August 2011. Does that mean I can claim for 20% of the £3000 it cost me? £600 would fill my wallet up nicely and I might be arsed to do something about it for such a large sum. How do I get this money in my wallet?
The £60 a year for uniform washing when added to your tax code equates to about £12 a year in your pocket. Not a lot but better in your pocket than There’s!
Some agencies sell the milage allowance as they are giving you X pence per mile to travel however it also is offset against tax so only worth 20% of that (roughly) in your pocket.
in my last job i was mostly on the tools, so spent a scarey amount of lits of shiny things and a big shiny box to keep them all in (about 8k over the last 3 years) and i know i would have been entitled to claim the tax back on them. as i’ve now gone on the road full time with a different company, anyone know if i would still be able to claim, or have i screwed up?
SmashedCrabFace:
I saw something on Facebook earlier about people who wear a uniform for work and have to wash it themselves. Apparently they can claim a tax rebate for doing so.
It got me thinking. Can those of us that are employed claim the tax back for things we have to pay for in order to do our job? ie CPC courses, digi cards, licence renewals etc?
The tax free allowance for upkeep of uniform/working clothes for PAYE employees is currently fixed at £60 - that’s worth 60 X 20p or £12 per year in your pocket.
You can claim tax free allowances for a lot of “essential expenses.”
Nate:
in my last job i was mostly on the tools, so spent a scary amount of lots of shiny things and a big shiny box to keep them all in (about 8k over the last 3 years) and i know i would have been entitled to claim the tax back on them. as i’ve now gone on the road full time with a different company, anyone know if i would still be able to claim, or have i screwed up?
You can claim for quite a while (6 years I think) if you have the receipts, but what the hell, ask, the worse they can do is say no.
I must say i wasn’t aware that all we employed drivers could claim the cost of the medical and licence renewal fee
EIM66190 - Tax treatment of lorry drivers: issue or renewal of HGV/LGV licences
Section 343 ITEPA 2003
Where an employed lorry driver meets the cost of the issue or renewal of an LGV licence (formerly HGV licence) and any related medical expense costs these costs are deductible within Section 343 ITEPA 2003 (paragraph 12(a) in the table at subsection (2)), see List 3 and EIM32905. The licence should be renewed every 5 years from the age of 40.
Having had a quick scan over that IR Page it seems that an employer could pay £40-50 per day subsistence allowance, Mid day meal, evening meal,breakfast, plus n/out and washing of bedding , Poss a bit more,as they have to take into account the extortionate fees that some foreign ferry operators charge for meals whilst on board ,
I also note that the driver card for digi tacho’s is also recognised as a claimable item, So the DCPC b/s training should also fall within that scope as it it’s solely required for a driver to continue driving for hire &reward legally, i think i may give them a call and make enquiries about this I see no just reason why the driver should not be able to claim for this(those who have to fund it their selves)
There are limits to how many of the subsistence allowances you can claim. Some of the payments are mutually exlusive - eg. if you claim “unusual late finish” then you’re not also going to be claiming “unusual early start” since that would mean you illegally working more than 15 hours in a day.
If you claim “combined breakfast/dinner” then you don’t then add “dinner for evening” on top of that.
If you take a packed lunch to work with you, you’re not supposed to claim at all, but since HMRC don’t insist upon receipts, I can’t see how anyone would be caught out claiming for a £10 fast food bucket & drink every day without fail!
had the uniform cleaning tax allowance for years
but recently claimed for having my meals away from home and away from permanent place of work (depot)
because my employer does not make provision for this and does not contribute to the cost
the amount is suposed to be £500 a year and you can claim the allowance for previous years (not sure how many )
anyway
i sent letter off to hm revenue and customs, paye self assesment in liverpool
and they sent me a cheque for 800 quid and changed my tax code
not sure how they worked it out but i didnt complain
villa:
Recently claimed for having my meals away from home and permanent place of work because my employer does not make provision for this.
Anyway, I sent a letter off to HM Revenue and Customs, PAYE self assesment, in Liverpool and they sent me a cheque for 800 quid and changed my tax code.
Not sure how they worked it out but I didn’t complain.
I did exactly the same but I can’t remember which Tax Office I sent my letter to.
Anyway, my letter found its way to:
HMRC
PAYE
PO Box 4000
Cardiff
CF14 8HR
. . . and the very kind people there sent me a very nice little sum, direct to my bank account.
.
