How to Claim Uniform Tax Rebate from HMRC

It is generally believed that when it comes to income and taxation there are various ways to avoid paying more tax to the government in terms of income tax.

What is Uniform Tax?

When it comes to uniform or appearances, it’s not only about the complete uniform. Every type of work will have a particular category of the uniform. No matter whether you are a doctor, police officer, sales person, if an employee wear a uniform with a logo of the company imprinted on it at work and wash it himself he/she may be due a tax refund from HMRC. In another words uniform tax refund is special type of tax relief for employee who have to clean, wash, repair or replace working cloth.

How to claim Uniform Tax Rebate:

There are some specific conditions who qualify to claim tax refund from the HMRC:

• You are wearing specialized clothing for work.
• The maintenance and laundry keep your-self.
• Pay income tax.
• You must be employed; different rules apply if you are self-employed.
• You can only claim for replacement and repairs not the initial cost of your uniform.
• You must have paid for the costs yourself.

It may be there should be other rules for claiming uniform tax rebate to specific industries, but these are the basics which will apply to much everyone. Cleaning, repairing or replacing it is usually fair game. Typical eligible occupations include:

• NHS & healthcare workers
• Care assistants
• Hospitality & Catering
• Airline working staff
• Pharmacy working workers
• Police workers
• Construction working workers
• Engineers & Mechanics
• Prison staff
• Carpenters
• Pharmacists
• Doctors
• Anyone else that wears a uniform to work!

Making a claim:

The process for claiming uniform tax reliefs vary on the nature of your work whether you are working as a sole trader or you are an employee. An employee can claim tax relief by filling the P87 form and a self-employed by filling out their self-assessment tax return. If you claiming uniform tax for the first time, you need to provide your details to HMRC in writing and fill in the Uniform tax form P87. You have to fill the following personal and employment details:

• The name and address of your force
• Your job title
• Details of any laundry or cleaning services provided by your force
• What expenses you're claiming for, such as the costs of laundering your uniform
• Whether you want the rebate to be deducted from the current year's tax or you would like a cheque.
• Details of payment or vouchers provided by your force to cover laundry or other costs

You can make a claim by filling the form P87 online (as there are many sites are offering to this for you) or you can also send it via post office to HMRC office.

How much could you get?

The standard flat rate expense allowance for uniform tax is £60 and the highest is £185 for healthcare professionals. The good news is that if you have missed out on payments because you have not been claiming, uniform wearers can bag a rebate for up to four years - which means you could be entitled to over a £150 back. The sum of rebate that you could claim back will depend on nature of the work that you are working on. You can use Uniform tax rebate calculator to calculate your tax reliefs.

To calculate the uniform tax rebate, the best way would always be to use an experienced accountant who can help you with this venture. DNS Accountants can help you for claiming your work related clothing expenses and maximize your tax refund. You can book a free consultation online today or in one of our many office locations around UK.