Claiming tax relief for job expenses 4 years ago

fryderykchopin

I'm new to self-assessment tax returns and I need to complete one.
While reading about this, I came across the following information regarding claiming tax relief for job expenses:
https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees
"You must claim within 4 years of the end of the tax year that you spent the money."
From time to time I have expenses from my pocket that are required for my job and I have just learnt that I can claim tax relief on many of them. The amount is substantial (over 2,000). However since I wasn't aware of this I never claimed tax relief in the past. If I understood the information provided in the link above correctly, I can still claim tax relief for job expenses up to 4 tax years back (6 April 2016) if I didn't claimed them before?
Can I just add all my job expenses in the last four years and presented them in the SA tax return for 2019-20? Is this acceptable?
Sorry the question may be silly but I just want to make sure I understood this correctly.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Can I just add all my job expenses in the last four years and presented them in the SA tax return for 2019-20? Is this acceptable?

Not unless you want it investigated by HMRC no.

What type of expenses are you referring to and what is the most in any one particular tax year (2016:17, 2017:18 and 2018:19).

fryderykchopin

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Can I just add all my job expenses in the last four years and presented them in the SA tax return for 2019-20? Is this acceptable?

Not unless you want it investigated by HMRC no.

What type of expenses are you referring to and what is the most in any one particular tax year (2016:17, 2017:18 and 2018:19).

Last year I spent 366 in fees for registration in professional bodies and related expenses, and 46 in taxis and other expenses that were not refunded by my employer (about 400 last year).
However in the previous tax years I have travelled to conferences where I had to pay hotel and flight, about 800 in 2017 and 370 in 2018, plus about 180 per year in professional fees, which I have never claimed and the professional body appears in the list of approved bodies.
The reason why I'm completing the SA return is because I have had foreign income (6000€) so I'm telling HMRC about this but I would like to reduce the amount of tax I pay on this. Why wouldn't they trust me if I'm telling them about foreign income they would probably never be aware of?
I have receipts for the expenses I'm claiming and I am ready to upload them, if the SA submission system allows me to upload files, or provide them if asked by HMRC. Do you think this would be a bad idea?

Anyway, my question is if I'm allowed to claim tax relief on expenses I had 4 years ago - even if they investigate.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Anyway, my question is if I'm allowed to claim tax relief on expenses I had 4 years ago - even if they investigate.

That is a totally different question to what you originally asked.

Can I just add all my job expenses in the last four years and presented them in the SA tax return for 2019-20? Is this acceptable?

You just need to write to HMRC about the earlier tax years giving them details of the amount you wish to claim for each tax year and provide a breakdown of how that amount has been arrived at.

They may not quibble about some (professional fees) but I wouldn't be so sure about hotels and flights.  If they were necessary for your employment wouldn't your employer have paid them?

Any tax relief due is calculated by reference to your income tax position in each of those earlier years, not what happened in 2019:20.

Jeremy535897

fryderykchopin said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Can I just add all my job expenses in the last four years and presented them in the SA tax return for 2019-20? Is this acceptable?

Not unless you want it investigated by HMRC no.

What type of expenses are you referring to and what is the most in any one particular tax year (2016:17, 2017:18 and 2018:19).

Last year I spent 366 in fees for registration in professional bodies and related expenses, and 46 in taxis and other expenses that were not refunded by my employer (about 400 last year).
However in the previous tax years I have travelled to conferences where I had to pay hotel and flight, about 800 in 2017 and 370 in 2018, plus about 180 per year in professional fees, which I have never claimed and the professional body appears in the list of approved bodies.
The reason why I'm completing the SA return is because I have had foreign income (6000€) so I'm telling HMRC about this but I would like to reduce the amount of tax I pay on this. Why wouldn't they trust me if I'm telling them about foreign income they would probably never be aware of?
I have receipts for the expenses I'm claiming and I am ready to upload them, if the SA submission system allows me to upload files, or provide them if asked by HMRC. Do you think this would be a bad idea?

Anyway, my question is if I'm allowed to claim tax relief on expenses I had 4 years ago - even if they investigate.

Your original question was whether you could claim them on your 2019/20 return. The answer is no.

You can go back to 6 April 2016. See https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees

If you say you complete SA returns, you will be told that is the only way to claim.

You won't need to upload expenses using self assessment.