How to Claim Uniform Tax Rebate

How to claim Uniform Tax Rebate?

To claim Uniform Tax Rebate, the uniform must be a part of the job, the maintenance of the uniform has to be taken care by yourself and you should be an income tax payer.Post that you need to fill form p87 and share it online or through post.

Before you contact the HMRC for filing your uniform tax rebate, it is a good idea to have all your details in hand and at one place. The details regarding your employer, your industry of work, financial aid provided by the employer for maintenance of your uniform, more specifically- the cleaning or laundry services offered by the employer, etc. are few of the extremely important things to be kept in mind while filing for a uniform tax rebate.

Now if you are claiming a tax rebate for the first time or you paid more than £1,000, you will have to fill in the P87 form and submit it either online or via post to the HMRC. If you are filing for more than one year, each year will require a separate form.

If you have filed a claim earlier, under ideal situations, your tax code will automatically get adjusted to include your costs. However, if this automatic adjustment doesn’t happen, you can get in touch with HMRC through post or over a call on 0845-300-0627.

What is a uniform tax relief?

If you are an employee who wears a uniform or some protective clothing to your work place and the expenses are paid out of your pocket, then you are entitled to claim the uniform tax rebate. It is meant to cover or provide some relief to the employees from the income tax that they pay to the government.

Part of the expenditure that an employee makes on buying and maintaining his uniform, without any help from his employer, is made up for by the uniform tax relief provided on the income tax by the HMRC.

Who can claim the rebate?

The following conditions need to be met if you want to claim the uniform tax rebate from HMRC:

• Your uniform must represent your job: The uniform that you wear must tell the world what you do. So if it is a doctor’s uniform, a police officer’s uniform or in some cases, a uniform with the company logo, then you are good to go.
• The expenses for its maintenance and washing are taken care of by you: If all the maintenance including washing of the uniform is done by you without any financial help from your employer, you are entitled to claiming the uniform tax rebate.
• You should be an income tax payer: It is essential for you to have paid the income tax for the year for which the uniform tax rebate is to be claimed.

Form P87 for Uniform Tax Rebate

Once you are sure that you are entitled to claim tax relief on uniform tax, then the first thing that you need to do is fill form P87- the form for ‘Tax Relief for Expenses of Employment'- and submit it to the HMRC. Rebate on the uniform tax or any other employment expenses is all filed through Form P87 which includes details like your job, the industry of work, employer details, National Insurance Number and the PAYE number.

ALSO READ : Download form p87 for claiming Uniform Tax Rebate

Uniform Tax Credit: What can you claim?

You can claim Uniform Tax Rebate of standard flat rate expense allowance (FREA) is £60 for the fiscal year 2017-18. However, you cannot claim this amount if your allowance is more than £2500 in a year. Also while claiming, all records, receipts, invoices, purchase receipts of invoices (related to uniforms bought/maintenance of uniforms).

Claims on uniform tax rebate – 20% of the claim can be met by lower income tax group and 40% by higher income tax group.

Uniform tax calculator

The following information are required – Name, National Insurance Number, Employer PAYEE Number, Vehicle expenses, car mileage expenses, travel and subsistence expenses.

ALSO READ : Calculate Tax Rebate on Uniforms

Do HMRC sends emails about Tax Refunds?

HMRC never shares emails about tax refunds, but instead shares a post which indicates the amount refund is due. If you ever receive any email claiming to be from HMRC and stating for refund, then send this mail to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and delete the mail.

All correspondence from HMRC happens through post only and any other form of communication is to be reported to HMRC and deleted.

Does HMRC call you for tax?

No the HMRC will never call you or email you about not paying taxes. Any such phishing scams are to be strictly reported to HMRC. The only form of communication that is used by HMRC is by post.

Can I get a uniform tax rebate?

You can claim either of the following two types of uniform tax rebate:

• A flat rate deduction

  HMRC has decided on typical amounts that employees in different industries spend on their uniforms. This is the amount that you can file a claim for every year. Check this set amount on the UK government’s website. On top of this, the standard flat rate expense allowance (FREA) is £60 for the fiscal year 2017-18. For this, you do need to record and present for verification the amount that you have spent.

• Claim on the amount of money you have spent

  For filing this claim, you will have to keep all your receipts of expenditures made over the year handy. These records will have to be shown and presented for verification at the time of claiming the uniform tax relief.

Calculating the Uniform Tax Rebate

• Opting for the flat rate deduction

  For the year 2017-18, the standard flat rate amount is £60. Low rate taxpayers can claim up to 20% of this flat rate while high-rate taxpayers can claim up to 40% of this amount as their uniform tax rebate. Again, a few exceptions apply to iron and steel workers, carpenters and police officers who have a flat rate of £140 per year.

• Claiming for the actual amount spent each year

  If you feel that your expenses exceed the standard flat rate decided by the HMRC, you can opt for filing a claim on the actual amount that you spent over the last year and in the year that you are filing a claim for. However, you need to have all the records of expenditures- the transaction receipts of your expenses to file for such a claim. Once you do, HMRC will evaluate your claim and notify you of the amount that is due to you as the Uniform tax refund.

Again, it is to be noted that you can claim the uniform tax rebate for the current year as well as for the last four years, provided you have been wearing a uniform for the respective years and have also paid the income tax for those years. However, if your employer has already repaid you for your expenses, you cannot file a claim.

About the author

Sumit Agarwal
Sumit Agarwal (ACMA ACA India), the Managing partner of dns accountants is a highly respected accountant with expertise in helping owner-managed businesses.