Any REAL ways that the ordinary small non-driver person can get cash back from tax??

Angel89_2

Aloha ive seen some of the threads on here about how you can save some money on tax but only if you drive a car a certain number of miles each week, if you run a business and the income directly from that is at such a level.... ect


But that doesn't actually apply to the majority of people who just do normal average jobs, have low/average income which they lose 30% of automatically each month through having it being taken as tax,
and don't really have any ways of getting any of that money back into their hands as the cash which they have earnt through the work they have done.


So i was just wondering if anyone knows any 'creative' ways in which normal people who dont drive and dont run UK businesses can get some cash back from the tax man?? :beer::A


I know that unless you are extremely lucky you wont be able to get your work to 'offset your travel costs against tax for you',
which wouldn't actually be hard to do at all though since they could simply look and see how many days they want you to work that month, see how much the trainfare is for you each day,
and then just pay you that money in cash at the start of the month and deduct it from your gross salary that they would pay you accordingly.


Its unlikely you will have a job where you are lucky enough that they will do that for you,
although i know of many many places that do that when their employees buy their products, so they get them tax free.


But does nayone know anyways you can get big expenses like your travel to work/food at work costs deducted or offset against tax?? :cool::T

nexuss

You need to learn about income tax and how it works.A very strange post indeed.

PlutoinCapricorn

Angel, you are obviously aware that self employed people - sole traders and limited companies - pay income tax on their profits not their income. The profit is arrived at by deducting legitimate business expenses, of which mileage is one, from the income. This is one of the advantages of being self employed.

Employees who pay income tax under the PAYE system are very limited where expenses are concerned and they are taxed on the income. the standard rate of income tax is 20%. In return, they get a regular income, sick pay and holiday pay and their Class 1 National Insurance contributions count towards the State Pension and Additional State Pension. There is also the question of JSA: if you have been self employed rather than an employee you may not get so much.

Some employees who are required to have their uniforms and protective clothing cleaned at their own expense can recover the cost; those who are required to work at home can sometimes get an allowance for using extra electricity etc. HMRC prefer it if the employer reimburses such costs themselves, rather than involving HMRC. Some employees offer season ticket loans, but in general travel to and from work costs and meals at work must be paid for by the employee. There is no way round this.

trevormax

There isn't a lot the average joe on basic rate wages on PAYE can do to save on tax.

Does your employer run any HMRC approved share incentive plans (SIP's)? These are good because the money used to buy the shares comes from your gross pay before tax and NI has been deducted. Then after 5 years when you sell the shares, as long as the money was kept in the SIP, you dont pay capital gains tax on any gain made on the shares so effectivley, you ave avoided paying tax on that income.

Does your employer have more than one office with the offices being some distance appart from each other? If so, if you are required to work in any other office for less than 24 months, you can claim various temporary workplace expenses.

There is a page detailing some SIP's here http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/index/money-tax-and-benefits/taxes/working-and-paying-tax/tax-on-employee-share-schemes.htm

dzug1

Angel89 wrote: »

I know that unless you are extremely lucky you wont be able to get your work to 'offset your travel costs against tax for you',
which wouldn't actually be hard to do at all though since they could simply look and see how many days they want you to work that month, see how much the trainfare is for you each day,
and then just pay you that money in cash at the start of the month and deduct it from your gross salary that they would pay you accordingly.

To do that you need an employer who is both prepared to run a fiddly fraud prone admin system AND break the law by not taxing you on your full salary.

nexuss

Angel89 wrote: »

But does nayone know anyways you can get big expenses like your travel to work/food at work costs deducted or offset against tax?? :cool::T

It just amazes me that people think self-employed people are so much better off than if they were on PAYE with a company.

Money_Grabber13579

This is going to be complicated to explain. In the majority of cases, people who can offset expenses such as mileage allowances aren't any better off than the average person.

This is because they have their petrol money re-imbursed by the company. They already paid tax when they received it in their salary, so why should they pay tax on it again when they get it re-imbursed? So they aren't any better or worse off.

By the way, the tax rate isn't 30% either. Unless your referring to tax and NI, which is nearer to 30% but not quite there.

border_collie

Luncheon vouchers.


Pension contributions paid by employer and employee.


Interest free loans from employer.


Employer can provide cycle for employee I think, not too sure on that one.


Huge xmas do.

jd87

There are some things that PAYE taxpayers can definitely get tax relief on. For example if you have to pay a professional subscription to be able to do your job. That mainly applies to people like doctors, vets, etc so I suppose it's not what you'd call normal average jobs though.

Angel89_2

Are 'luncheon vouchers' a national thing that you can claim??

Or just subject to if your company gives them?


And for my job, i work in security, so i had to pay £200 to do a training course to get my SIA license training, and then had to pay £245 to get my actual physcial license card from the SIA.

I ONLY needed this because my job specified that i did, but so how would i go about claim tax back on that please??

Money_Grabber13579

Angel89 wrote: »

Are 'luncheon vouchers' a national thing that you can claim??

Or just subject to if your company gives them?


And for my job, i work in security, so i had to pay £200 to do a training course to get my SIA license training, and then had to pay £245 to get my actual physcial license card from the SIA.

I ONLY needed this because my job specified that i did, but so how would i go about claim tax back on that please??

Yeah but they're only 15p per day and only if the meals are offered in a staff canteen and are available to everyone.