HMRC Tax Form P87 - Tax relief for employment expenses
A P87 form is a unique code for the HMRC form “Tax Relief for your employment expenses” and can be used for employees to claim tax relief on workplace expenses. If you are self-employed, when you submit your yearly self-assessment form, you need to notify HMRC of your costs. If you have more than one job, for example, you work for a company but also do self-employed work, you will need to submit separate P87’s.
What can I claim on a P87 tax form?
You should fill out a P87 if you are employed but have used your own money for work expenses totaling up to £2,500 that your employer doesn’t reimburse you for. If the expenses exceed £2,500, you usually need to file a self-assessment tax return. A typical example would be a construction worker who travels to temporary sites for work. The worker would use his own transport to travel to and from the sites but would not be reimbursed for the cost of fuel by his employer; this would mean he can claim tax relief on his mileage. You can also claim tax relief if you keep the receipts.
• Flat rate expenses
• Travel (rail tickets or van hire)
• Parking, tolls, and public transport fees
• Professional fees (including unions)
• Accommodation (hotels and meal expenses)
• expenses associated with working from home
• Equipment and material
What information do I need for a P87?
You will need to have the following information plus receipts as evidence.
• Employer PAYE number
• Your employee number
Both of these numbers will be on your payslip
• Details and receipts of the expenses you are claiming
• Any employer contributions
For example, you may get 0.25p per mile back from your employer, rather than the 0.45p from HMRC approved mileage rate. You will be able to claim the difference back
Do I need to submit a P87 form to claim back my work expenses?
No, HM Revenues and Customs will accept claims by phone if your total expenses are less than £1,000 or less than £2,500 for any professional fees and subscriptions. You can claim by post with a written correspondence if you are claiming tax relief for someone else, or if you are claiming for 5 separate jobs.
How long does a P87 take to process?
On average a HMRC Tax Rebate can take around 10 – 12 weeks to process once they have received all the necessary information. We will be in constant communication with you and HMRC every step of the way during the claim to make sure we can get you your cashback asap.
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 you 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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