claiming for clothes

alun135

I am a service technician working with photocopiers my employer insists that we wear suits shirts and ties no ifs or buts.

can I make a claim against my tax for these are they are a requirement by my employer.

I also visit a refinery where I have to wear safety clothing, they wont supply me with a winter coat can I therefore buy one and make a claim for it as it has to be to certain standards and not street quality ie fire retardant

Skint_yet_Again

Rules for specialist safety clothing http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-tools.htm

how to claim

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/how-to-get.htm

You can only claim for the repairing, cleaning or replacing of the specialist clothing, not the initial cost.

You cannot claim for the suits as they are not a uniform or specialist clothing.

Hope that helps

TM1976

Skint_yet_Again wrote: »

You can only claim for the repairing, cleaning or replacing of the specialist clothing, not the initial cost.

It says this here on HMRC's website, however the employment manual says otherwise http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/eim32475.htm

I'm of the opinion that you could claim for the cost of the coat if it fulfils a safety purpose and for the £60 pa laundry allowance.

You can't claim for having to wear a suit however

jimmo

TM1976 wrote: »

It says this here on HMRC's website, however the employment manual says otherwise

No it doesn’t.

You should bear in mind that the staff manuals on the HMRC website were written for use by staff and the order in which they present matters may not seem logical to those who haven’t been trained to use them.

EIM 32475 is part of the section dealing with what types of clothing may be claimed but EIM 32480 then deals with the type of expenditure can be claimed in respect of qualifying clothing.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM32480.htm

Only upkeep, replacement and repair may be claimed, not original purchases.

Dazed_and_confused

jimmo wrote: »

No it doesn’t.

You should bear in mind that the staff manuals on the HMRC website were written for use by staff and the order in which they present matters may not seem logical to those who haven’t been trained to use them.

EIM 32475 is part of the section dealing with what types of clothing may be claimed but EIM 32480 then deals with the type of expenditure can be claimed in respect of qualifying clothing.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM32480.htm

Only upkeep, replacement and repair may be claimed, not original purchases.

Are you sure? http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/eim32465.htm
states there are exceptions where the cost of specialist uniform can be claimed and ends

"We also accept that specialist clothing can include clothing that is a uniform or part of a uniform, see EIM32475.
A deduction can only be permitted where the employee must provide the specialist clothing at his or her own expense"

Irrespective of this however I don't think the OP should waste his time trying to claim.

jimmo

Insofar as anybody can be sure about tax matters, yes I am.

EIM 32465 may expand or clarify the nature of the clothing in respect of which a claim can be made but you still have to move on to what expenditure can be claimed in respect of the qualifying clothing.

TM1976

jimmo wrote: »

No it doesn’t.

You should bear in mind that the staff manuals on the HMRC website were written for use by staff and the order in which they present matters may not seem logical to those who haven’t been trained to use them.

EIM 32475 is part of the section dealing with what types of clothing may be claimed but EIM 32480 then deals with the type of expenditure can be claimed in respect of qualifying clothing.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM32480.htm

Only upkeep, replacement and repair may be claimed, not original purchases.

As I can read I think we can assume I am "trained to use" the manual. This link doesn't actually say that you can't claim for the original cost, only that you can claim for "replacement repair and upkeep". Where as the other links do say you can.

Unfortunately it's quite common for HMRC staff not look at the manual and try and say that it says something that it actually doesn't say.

I'm confident that you can claim as it's illogical that you can claim for upkeep but not for the original cost. However it's likely you would have to argue the point with HMRC before they allowed it so it's probably not worth it.

nomunnofun

TM1976 wrote: »

I'm confident that you can claim as it's illogical that you can claim for upkeep but not for the original cost. However it's likely you would have to argue the point with HMRC before they allowed it so it's probably not worth it.

This would appear to say differently.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-tools.htm

If you must pay for the cost of repairing, cleaning or replacing this type of specialist clothing yourself and your employer doesn't reimburse you, then you are entitled to tax relief. However, you cannot claim for the initial cost of buying this clothing.

TM1976

nomunnofun wrote: »

This would appear to say differently.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-tools.htm

If you must pay for the cost of repairing, cleaning or replacing this type of specialist clothing yourself and your employer doesn't reimburse you, then you are entitled to tax relief. However, you cannot claim for the initial cost of buying this clothing.

I'm aware of this as it's in the very first post, but it's not supported by anything I can find in HMRC's manual or any ruling that I'm aware of. So I think it's wrong.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM32450.htm actually says:

"A deduction is permitted for the COST of certain specialist clothing, see EIM32465. The sort of clothing for which a deduction may be permitted is illustrated by examples EIM32471 and EIM32476."

"Where a deduction is permitted for the COST of clothing a deduction should ALSO be permitted for the upkeep of that clothing."