Can a paye tax payer claim back taxable expenses?

metso

Hi,
I was wondering as a paye tax payer would it be possible for me to claim a tax refund against money I had to pay out to be able to do my job?

swivellingmonk

Metso - that depends on what you are trying to claim on - HM Revenue & Customs (the taxman) will allow you to do this if you are claiming "allowable expenses" - some examples are laundering your uniform or subscriptions to professional organisations. You will need to write with details to your local tax office.

joshm_2

Someone who is on PAYE can certainly claim tax relief on some things (pension if you are a high-rate taxpayer, business mileage, etc). So your question turns to one regarding the type of expenses you are talking about. Usually an employer will reimburse in full any expenses incurred by an employee (that it considers reasonable and permissible) meaning you don't have to worry about tax.

metso

basically I work on film sets etc and the location can be any where...when I am working within the UK, I usually have to hire a car and do approx 30K miles a year, of course petrol as well,
I've had to purchase a laptop computer, high end Camera and because of the variable weather conditions, I have to purchase expensive extreme weather clothing, I was wondering because I use these items for work, could I claim against them? Thank you

joshm_2

Are you self-employed?

metso

No, I am PAYE. but other people working tell me that they can claim certain expenses back even though they are paye, They told me I would have to fill in a self assesment form.

Lady_maverick1979

Hi metso,

We did this for my husband - he's a doctor. We could claim back the tax payable on his membership fees for various professional bodies, his journal subscriptions and any equipment or textbooks he has purchased which are deemed necessary for doing his job (so the big paeditrics textbook at £150 was claimable, but the textbooks he bought to help study for his postgraduate professional exams were not). Exam fees were not claimable.

You can do this, but for things like the laptop, camera and clothing, I think you have to be able to say that they are essential for doing your job and are only used in the course of your employment.

Not sure what the position is regarding the car hire...can't you claim it back as expenses from your employer?

HTH,

L-M.xx

whatatwit

For clothes, I think it used to be that if they were logo'd with your employers details and you had to have them (part of contract), then possibly that was an allowable expense, similar for laundering of them.
I doubt that car hire would be allowable, as most of us have to travel to our jobs.

For the camera & laptop, the phrase 'wholly & exclusiveley' rings a bell.

Petmidget

The test for "employed" people is wholly, exclusively and necessary. The necessary being the sticking point.

It will very much depend on what you do, most employers would cover most essential or necessary expenses. There are some exceptions though.

The classics would be professional subscriptions to trade bodies that you are expected to have but your employer doesnt cover, others wopuld be business travel where your employer pays some but not the statutory maximum and you can claim the difference.

After that, there are some industry specific ones.

Then you are clutching at straws, mostly a few quid here and there for clothing etc but again depends what you do

Petmidget

Having read your post no 4 (must read full thread before replying) .I think you need to do some reading on hmrc website.

I have a funny feeling film sets have special rules attached because of the almost self employed nature of the work. In fact if you are working on a variety of sets for a variety of production companies why are you not self employed??

metso

Thank you everyone who has replied...with regard to the self employment I have been told that I cannot become self employed. Admittedly I haven't fully investigated this thoroughly, but your questions prompt me to investigate this further. Is it purely a case of phoning the inland revenue film unit?