Claiming Tax back on MECHANICS tools. *HOW TO / HELP NEEDED ASAP*

powely92

I was just wondering the process of claiming back tax on tools.
Can someone please explain in the simplest way, how i can do this?
What form should i fill in?
What do i need to have to make a claim?
Will i recieve a cheque or...?

Ive spent roughly £3000-£4000 without looking at my receipts in 3/4 years.

Cant find anything really helpful on the net and dont want to give a company 40% !!

Please help me out, Wanna get some extra spending money for my holiday to America in July!

powely92

Also, on say £4000 how much can i expect back if i pay tax at 20%

agrinnall

Are you self employed? Have you been submitting self assessment tax returns and not including the purchase of tools in them?

powely92

I'm not self employed. I work for a main dealer.
I've just been given a pay check. Brought tools with my money and heard you can claim it back.

Caz3121

If these are tools that are required for your job, does your employer not provide them or reimburse you?

McKneff

If you buy the tools yourself you can claim the tax back on them up to a point,


Google it, its easy to find.

McKneff

http://www.taxrebate.co.uk/mechanics-faq.html


it took seconds.


Don't let anyone make the claim for you, do it yourself because they will charge you a fee.

agrinnall

McKneff wrote: »

http://www.taxrebate.co.uk/mechanics-faq.html


it took seconds.


Don't let anyone make the claim for you, do it yourself because they will charge you a fee.

In general I'd agree with that, but in this case the claim doesn't look at all straightforward (and indeed, the link you give state "it is a very complicated thing to do if you're claiming for more than one year") so it would probably be worth the OP at least speaking to an accountant in the first place.

00ec25

agrinnall wrote: »

In general I'd agree with that, but in this case the claim doesn't look at all straightforward (and indeed, the link you give state "it is a very complicated thing to do if you're claiming for more than one year") so it would probably be worth the OP at least speaking to an accountant in the first place.

since the link provided is to exactly what he was told to avoid, namely an agency that claims on his behalf and takes a large cut for doing so, its hardly surprising they say its "difficult", they want you to use them - DON'T

OP is an employee therefore claiming for tools is exactly the same as claiming for the costs of washing a uniform, you write in and claim! If submitted before 5 April 2014 then OP can claim back as far as no earlier than 6 April 2009.

The difficult bit (capital allowances) is for the self employed and is therefore irrelevant for the OP

as for the amount you'll get it will be 20% of whatever you claim , ie I assume you are not a higher rate taxpayer therefore you will get back the tax you paid (ie 20%) on what you spent, so on £4,000 that is £800.

All Op needs to do is write to his tax office (Form P87) and make the claim, however, because his claim is for more than £2,500 HMRC will make him fill out a full blown tax return - of course this is nothing to be daunted about because I assume OP simply has income from his employment and possibly some interest on his savings

the procedure for claiming using the Form P87 and the time limits are here :
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/how-to-get.htm

for the sake of completeness the other HMRC page (see last point at bottom of the page, but it does not add anything) is here
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-tools.htm

00ec25

Caz3121 wrote: »

If these are tools that are required for your job, does your employer not provide them or reimburse you?

it is normal for employed mechanics to have to buy their own tools - there are 2 main reasons:
a) the garage does not have to replace tools when they go "missing" so employees can't flog easily saleable tools on eBay as they would be robbing from themselves or their mates
b) the mechanic is able to take them with him when he gets a new job or does work on the side and the garage is not involved in disagreements over whose tool is whose

jimmo

00ec25 wrote: »

The difficult bit (capital allowances) is for the self employed and is therefore irrelevant for the OP

Actually employees can claim capital allowances and that is precisely what these claims companies trade on.
The potential difficulty with a normal expenses claim is that employees can only claim repairs and replacements so initial expenditure on new tools is not allowable.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM36500.htm
Having said that, there is nowadays precious little practical difference between claiming Annual Investment Allowance for new purchases and expenses claims for repairs and replacement.
However the “trick” the claims companies use is to get around the normal time limit using capital allowances.
If a claimant had bought tools 5, 6, 7 or more years ago but did not claim at those times, there seems to be nothing to stop him from claiming that expenditure as his unused pool brought forward to 2009/10 and then claiming writing down allowances.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/camanual/CA23230.htm
In that way, whilst the expenditure has been incurred in out of date years, the actual claims are in date.
It is a bit more complicated than a straightforward expenses claim but, once the principles have been grasped, its not exactly rocket science.