Wear A Uniform? Cut Your Tax!
It’s not widely known that if you wear a uniform at work that you have to subsequently wash at home, you can claim a reduction in tax anywhere from £20 to £140 a year. The government will give you that figure every year to cover the expense of having to wash your own clothes! This is in more official parlance, termed the Fixed Rate Expense Allowance, which changes your tax code to increase your pre-taxable earnings.
You won’t get this without asking for it, so you need to write to your tax office (your HR or wages department will be able to tell you which this is, if it isn’t written on a document you have to hand such as a P60). Once you know you need to contact, it’s game on.
To find out if you qualify and to access a list of the occupations that benefit from this – and there are a lot – click here. You’ll be presented with a very long list on Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs website which shows the industry and where necessary the type of work within that industry, and how much you are entitled to claim.
Find the address of your tax office. This is fairly simple, the HMRC website has a little tool you can use to pull up the relevant one. Click here to access it.
Finally, make your claim. I’ve put together a template letter you can use to make your claim. If you’re a Google member, just select ‘File’ > ‘Save as New Copy’ to edit it, change the required points, then print it out. If you’re not a member then you’ll need to select ‘File’ > ‘Download Document As’ and choose whichever word processor you normally use, then make your changes and print it out.
You can also backdate your claim, but results vary. See the old rates and work it into your letter depending on your circumstances. HMRC will write back to you after a fashion, confirming your claim.
Literally 10 minutes of your time, an envelope and a stamp could net you up to £140 a year. Simples!
Did you already know about this?
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Interesting Lee, I had no idea. Is there an income limit one has to not surpass? In the US the limits are everywhere, and it’s frustrating.
As far as I know, there’s no upper limit for this to be claimable. That is a really good point though, and one I have addressed to HMRC this afternoon. When I get a reply back, I’ll update this article.
Cheers