Tax Relief on teaching union fees

Giraffeseeker

Hi all :wave:

I clicked into an advert claiming to get tax rebates for teachers, turns out they are claiming back tax relief on Union fees and the GTC fee. Well, my employers always refunded the GTC fee so I never paid that myself, but I do pay union fees of about £18 per month. Obviously I won't use a fee paying company and will do it myself :money: BUT I don't know how to. I'll start by asking the Union to send me a statement of all the fees paid to them over the years, but then what do I do with it to claim the money back? I know it won't be alot, but I assume, as I can get 6 years worth of rebates, it will be worth price of the postage stamp to send a letter - or do I fill in a form? Anyone know?

Many thanks - I'll be telling all my colleagues about this too so we can all have a night out in July when we finish for summer

HappyMJ

Do your union fees come out of your salary before tax or do you pay them using after tax money? You should get a 20% refund of whatever you have paid if that is from after tax monies.

Giraffeseeker

After I have paid tax, it's a Direct Debit payment each month. Have paid it for 10 years but I know I can only claim 6 years. Should I just write a letter to the tax office with all the figures?

bmci677

Hi
I am a full time teacher and heard about tax relief on Union Fees through facebook. I clicked on a link and filled in my name address and national insurance number and received a few forms to fill in. In hindsight I am now worried if the site I used is legitimate or not. Can anyone tell me if this is a valid site and if not can the information I have given be used against me in anyway, it is known as 'teachertaxrebate.co.uk.
Thanks
Bernadette

antonic

http://www.teachertaxrebate.co.uk/

They will charge you a fee for doing this, when you could have done this yourself for free !.

All you need to do is :
1) Find out which tax office deals with you
2) Write to them quoting your NINO and the subscriptions you wish to claim back (the most you can claim back is 6 years (I think)).
3) They will then send you a P800 with a cheque attached.
4) They may adjust your taxcode upwards to reflect the fees BUT you must tell them if they cease.

Hope this helps.

bmci677 wrote: »

Hi
I am a full time teacher and heard about tax relief on Union Fees through facebook. I clicked on a link and filled in my name address and national insurance number and received a few forms to fill in. In hindsight I am now worried if the site I used is legitimate or not. Can anyone tell me if this is a valid site and if not can the information I have given be used against me in anyway, it is known as 'teachertaxrebate.co.uk.
Thanks
Bernadette

PlutoinCapricorn

This subject has been raised many times on MSE, and apart from one suspicious looking first post, everyone agrees that it is a disgrace that unions actually recommend these companies - in return for payment of course.

I know a doctor and a teacher who do it themselves, and who tell their colleagues about how this is done.

Of course, if you are happy to lose 40% or so and know that you can easily do it yourself, that is your decision, but it is wrong for these companies to imply that you need their help.

TM1976

PlutoinCapricorn wrote: »

This subject has been raised many times on MSE, and apart from one suspicious looking first post, everyone agrees that it is a disgrace that unions actually recommend these companies - in return for payment of course.

Actually as a qulaified accountant I don't agree with this sentiment. If people were willing to do this themselves and knew how to they would be.

I suspect that most of the tax relief on these kind of things remains unclaimed because people either don't know they are due it, don't know how to claim or can't be bothered to claim.

PlutoinCapricorn

I think that it should be up to the unions/the employers to tell new joiners that they are entitled to claim, that they can do it themselves and how to do it. Unions are supposed to represent their members, not help their exploiters.

One poster on MSE reported being told by one of these companies that you need a detailed knowledge of taxation law to claim, which is a big lie.

MMCG_2

If I claim this over 4 years (paying £14 a month), will it affect my tax code in the future? There is a chance that I may progress into higher rate bracket. Longer term this may not be of benefit, am I correct?

00ec25

MMCG wrote: »

If I claim this over 4 years (paying £14 a month), will it affect my tax code in the future? There is a chance that I may progress into higher rate bracket. Longer term this may not be of benefit, am I correct?

HMRC are not mind readers, whilst they sh/could assume you mean it to apply going forward why not just tell them that in the first place then there's no doubt

there is no top limit on earnings to prevent you still getting a tax rebate so why do you think there is no long term benefit?

PS not knowing which is your union make sure that £14 is the eligible amount. Not all union dues are fully eligible - see the HMRC list http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/list3/index.htm

elisebutt65

Thanks for this. I've been a member of UCU since 2007 & thought it was a scam as well. I'll get a statement sorted & put in a claim.
What's a NINO?