PhD student and Personal tax allowance.

anonymouse44

I've recently started a PhD and am in receipt of an EPSRC annual stipend of £13495.

My personal tax allowance is £8105 for this tax year. Does my stipend count towards this figure (i.e. in which case I'm over the allowance) or is it only any interest earned from or in addition to this that counts towards this allowance?

If it's the later, then am I correct in saying that I can inform my bank of my status by filling an R85 form?

antonic

This is from the HMRC website

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/tctmanual/TCTM04005.htm

The Tax Credit (Definition and Calculation of Income) Regulations 2002, Regs. 8 and 9

Student income means:
In England, any adult dependants' grant which is payable under

• Regulations under section 22 of the Teaching & Higher Education Act 1998(b)

This treatment of income also applies to equivalent provisions in Northern Ireland.
In Wales any adult dependants' grant which is payable under

• Regulations under section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998(d)

In Scotland

• Any adult or child dependant's grant payable under regulation 4(1)(c) of the Student's Allowances (Scotland) Regulations 2007.

Student Income disregarded

The Tax Credit (Definition and Calculation of Income) Regulations 2002, Regs. 8 and 9

When calculating student income disregard in full:

• student loans
• all other grants (for example, to meet the cost of tuition fees, child care, school meals etc)
• payments from Hardship Funds
• access and opportunity bursaries
• disabled student allowances
• in Northern Ireland, low income bursaries for Further and Higher Education Students
• in Scotland, income related bursaries; and
• in Wales income related grants
• scholarship income exempt from income tax by virtue of section 776 ITTOIA
• interest on reimbursement of student loan repayments exempt from income tax by virtue of section 753 ITTOIA

jennifernil

PhD stipend does not count for tax purposes.

agrinnall

I don't think malcnascar and antonic's replies are really relevant as a PhD stipend isn't covered by either of the links given. But as jennifer says the stipend is free of tax, which means you can earn up to an additional £8105 before you have to pay any tax (although there could be some NI due depending on how much you earn and when you earn it).

xylophone

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/students/coll/icase/Pages/faqs.aspx

Q6: How much is the student stipend?

Details of student stipends can be found in our Minimum Payments section. The Industrial CASE student stipend may be increased above the minimum payment using the industrial top-up. The amount of stipend enhancement should be carefully considered to attract a suitable eligible student. As a general rule, students do not pay tax on their maintenance grant as it is a training award. With higher contributions, students or universities may need to ask their local Inland Revenue to check on the tax-free status (we have no set level below which it is exempt and above which it needs checking).

agrinnall

That's a good point from xylophone, I hadn't thought about stipends paying more than the standard amount (currently £13590 outside London), although ESPRC probably provide more of these than any of the other research councils.

jennifernil

My daughter (2007-2011) had a stipend of £21k due to receiving both Uni and sponsored amounts.

None of it was taken into account for tax.

anonymouse44

Thanks for all your replies. Seems like the stipend does not count towards this personal tax allowance so I will be filling out some R85 promptly!

Thanks again.