Claiming for laundry of work uniform

Bruceinscotland · 8 November 2009 at 10:30PM

Hi guys
do you know how i can claim for laundry of my work uniform? I believe that they is a small yearly amount claimable against the IR and that i can claim back for the last 6 years. Is there a templete letter available to use?
regards Bruce

welshmoneylover · 8 November 2009 at 10:33PM

hmm, I'm interested to know this too as I've been responsible for washing my works uniform for the last 4+ years!

alwaysonthego_2 · 8 November 2009 at 10:38PM

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anotherginger · 8 November 2009 at 10:43PM

i did this in my previous job. i'm not sure what your circumstances are, but i was able to do this because it was necessary to wear a uniform and there were no laundering facilities provided.

i think the union were involved somehow, but this was before my time. all i did was write a letter to the tax office stating that my employer required me to wear a uniform and did not offer laundering.

it upped my tax allowance by about 65 quid i think.

LeeSouthEast · 8 November 2009 at 10:44PM

http://www.fivepencepiece.com/2009/09/wear-a-uniform-cut-your-tax/

borders_dude · 8 November 2009 at 11:00PM

All I did was phone the tax office, im centre 1. They took the details over the phone for the past couple of years and my tax code was adjusted in a couple of weeks.

I had to write in for 5 & 6 years ago and my tax code was changed a second time.

Its no hassle.

Providing you have to wear a uniform and have no facility to do it at work.

fengirl_2 · 9 November 2009 at 9:27AM

There have been long, long threads on this subject over the past year. This is what you do:
1. Go to www.hmrc.gov.uk and search for 'fixed rate deduction'. Look for your trade there, eg if you work in Tescos, you are a worker in the food industry. This list tells you the agreed annual expense allowance.
2. The allowances are agreed between HMRC and the unions, but you dont have to be a union member to claim.
3. You can go back 6 years with your claim as long as you were doing that job for that time.
4. The allowance is not only for laundry, it is for other expenses incurred in the course of work such as replacement of own tools to do the job, safety boots, protective clothing (apart from what one would wear normally), black tights for nurses, etc etc. If you have had to expend more than the set amount, you can claim the extra, but be prepared to produce receipts if asked.
5. You can claim the allowance even if only employed for part of the year or if part time.
6. You need to ask your tax office to adjust this years code and for them to issue a payable order for the repayment due for previous years - important or other wise they will stick the whole lot in this years code and you effectively have to wait for the end of the year for the refund.

TM1976 · 9 November 2009 at 8:11PM

The template letter on the link should be OK to use but the narrative is incorrect when he says you can claim the full amount back, you only get the tax back which is likely to be 20% of the amount. Still worth doing though, there should be some interest for older years too.

LeeSouthEast · 9 November 2009 at 8:14PM

Didn't know about the payable order bit fengirl - thanks for that!

Claiming for laundry of work uniform

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