Claiming costs of training

pandora205

Does anyone know if I can claim tax relief on the costs of books I have purchased for a course I am attending part time?

The training is a professional qualification (ie. job related although not essential) and most costs are met by my employer, but I have bought additional books and also attended a day's conference which I have funded.

Thanks

PS I will contact Inland Revenue but thought MSEs may have a good idea of what I'm entitled to.

fengirl_2

You can only claim tax relief for training which you are required to undertake in order to keep your knowledge up to date. Anything which takes you to the next step is not job related and therefore not allowable.

pandora205

fengirl wrote: »

You can only claim tax relief for training which you are required to undertake in order to keep your knowledge up to date. Anything which takes you to the next step is not job related and therefore not allowable.

Thanks that is helpful.

I think my qualification would be in a grey area, as it is the new requirement for entrants to the profession but not compulsory (although advised by our professional body) for practitioners. I may need to have a discussion with Inland Revenue about this.

mtem74

as its not an essential requirement you wont get any relief on the cost of the course.

pandora205

Thanks, though I'll give them a ring anyway as I'm spending a lot on books at the moment.

mtem74

let us know what they say

fluffymuffy

I read somewhere (in another forum, as advice given by someone who claimed to who about these things) that if the training leads to a personal benefit in the form of a qualification then it's not something you can claim against tax. Also, that training which allows you do to something better which you do already is permitted, but not training which equips you to do something new is not.

For example, if I teach piano but could do with some (advanced) lessons myself and these are a business expense to be offset against my teaching income as long as I'm not doing them as part of a course which leads to a new qualification, but just to keep my own skills polished. And on the other hand, I cannot claim the cost of lessons to teach me how to play the banjo from scratch so that I can offer lessons to others on it one day in the future.

pandora205

Thanks for the comments. I haven't had time to phone yet and don't really expect I have much hope. I'm an educational psychologist employed by my Local Authority. I've been practising (!) for many years but am upgrading my qualifications to the new doctorate, which is the requirement for new entrants (including the Trainee EPs that I am supervising at present).

As a psychologist I have to undertake a certain amount of professional development (80 hours per year in my post) to maintain my chartered status, so I have to undertake some training, though not necessarily the doctorate. So I hope Inland Revenue wouldn't regard my training as a luxury and tax it.

I am fortunate in having the course funded provided I complete it and that my research contributes to the Local Authority work I do. I also provide training for other members of my team in the areas I have studied as part of my course, so there are benefits more widely.

Our service budget has funded some of the books and materials I need but I don't like to take too much as there are other requirements for the team, so I have bought quite a few books myself. Some of these are expensive so I started wondering about whether I could get any tax relief on the costs.

pandora205

Jimmo - have checked your links and still not sure! Yes I am required to undertake some research as part of my post and need to keep up to date/extend my repetoire of research methods but would not have to commit myself to many hundreds of hours study, assignments and writing up a thesis to do this.

If I were new to the profession I would have to do this. When the qualification for educational psychologists changed from a Masters to a Doctorate in September 2006 it wasn't thought possible to insist that the whole of the profession retrain, so it wasn't made compulsory. Many Local Authorities however do encourage their EPs to take the course (and virtually all fund this).

pandora205

I think you are probably right about claiming, not least as I get most of the costs covered by my employer. I think I am safe from having this taxed as a benefit though (whew!)

My course isn't about formalising what I have learned already from experience, although it does draw on and relate to my work directly. I am expected to contribute both to local developments and policy and to national research on my topic. There is a lot of new learning.

I'm lucky to be in the position of having this funded, including travel and some materials, so I shouldn't be greedy!

IlonaRN

jimmo wrote: »

If you are interested I will explain that remark.

I would be grateful if you could explain the remark, please!

I am in (what I think is) a similar situation.

I work for a company that usually pay for the tuition fees/tuition material/professional fees for the job that I do. This year, they will only pay for half of the professional fees (since I didn't pass enough exams to stay on full study support).

I believe that my fees (subscription to the profession) should be eligible for tax-relief. How do I claim the tax on this subscription back, please? And would the remark you mentioned have any bearing on this?