Teacher Tax Rebates
If you are a taxpaying teacher working in the UK, you may be entitled to a tax refund on any expenses for things such as professional fees, teaching equipment, and cleaning or maintaining a work uniform. Claims can be backdated up to 4 years.
As a Teacher what can i claim back on expenses?
Many teachers, whether they are in full-time employment or a self-employed substitute teacher are not aware that they can claim tax back on work-related expenses. Below is a list of things teachers can potentially claim.
• Professional fees (teachers union)
• Subscription fees
• Teaching materials (textbooks and props)
• Travel costs (for temporary cover jobs)
• Protective gear (science teachers)
• Cleaning & maintaining work clothes (P.E teachers)
• Specialised sports equipment (P.E teachers)
Professional fees and subscriptions
Tax can be claimed on professional fees such as unions and other professional bodies including NUT (national union of teachers) and NASUWT (national association of schoolmasters union of women teachers). The HM Customs & Revenue website has an approved list of which organisations are eligible for tax relief. Your subscriptions to magazines and textbooks for school use could also be available for a tax-back claim. Any fees that have been paid to a general teaching council are also eligible for a claim, even organisations that are now obsolete.
Uniform tax rebates
If you are a teacher that has to wear and maintain a uniform, you could be able to claim a tax refund. Science teachers who need specialist equipment such as lab coats and safety goggles and physical education (P.E) teachers who use sportswear such as football boots, tracksuits, and specialist equipment such as hockey sticks and tennis rackets can also submit an HRMC tax return if they have used their own money to purchase the equipment.
Mileage allowance for full-time and substitute teachers
You may be able to claim back on your mileage and fuel costs if you need to travel between schools, colleges, and universities to fulfil your duties. If you are permanently employed at one school, you cannot claim a rebate for general commuting.
What Can I Claim Tax Back On?
You can claim tax back on most work-related expenses. Below is a list of items that you can request a tax rebate on:
• Vehicles for work use
• Fuel/Mileage costs
• Travel expenses
• Overnight expenses (food in certain circumstances)
• Rail Tickets (single & season tickets)
• Uniforms, work clothing, and tools
• Cleaning costs for uniforms
• Professional fees, subscriptions & unions fees
This list is an example of what you could claim back; there may be expenses & items specific to the job role that you could claim back.
What are the Deadlines?
- Current legislation in the UK says you can go back up to four Tax years when claiming a Tax rebate. This means at the current moment in time you can make a claim for the following periods:
- Year ended 5th April 2021
- Year ended 5th April 2022
- Year ended 5th April 2023
- Year ended 5th April 2024
Effectively this means you can claim Tax relief from 6th April 2020.
Over such a long period of time wage slips and p60s can be lost or misplaced. This isn’t a problem as you have lots of ways to obtain this information.
- Contact your current/previous employers as they are legally obliged to keep your records going back 6 years and because of GDPR if your request that information they have to provide it to you.
- You could log into your government gateway which is easy to set up if you have never done this.
- Contact HMRC on 0300 200 3300 and request that they post out to you a tax history letter which usually arrives in 10 working days from when you request it from them and this tax history letter will go back 4 years.
Am I Due Any Tax Back?
Most workers, whether employed or self-employed may be due a tax rebate for work-related items, expenses or because they have paid too much tax. HMRC do not know everyone’s individual circumstances, and it is up to the taxpayer to contact HMRC to see if they are entitled to any tax relief.
Other reasons for a tax refund may include pension payments, redundancy payments, interest from a savings account, PPI, or UK income if you are living aboard.
All claims for tax refunds and rebates are reviewed on a case by case basis. Use our tax claim form and answer a few simple questions to see if you could be entitled to make a claim.
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