Uniform Tax Rebate

Uniforms helps promote the company’s brand. When employees go to get lunch or go to appointments, potential customers will be exposed to your company through the branding on their uniform. A uniform adds an element of safety in a variety of settings. In industrial settings, uniforms provide physical protection through flame resistant materials and protection from chemicals and similar dangers. The uniforms protect employees’ own clothing from getting dirty or damaged during the course of work. You also add a layer of safety by making all employees easily identifiable. A person who isn’t wearing a uniform stands out as a potential intruder to the workplace. You are better able to identify these outsiders and ensure they are supposed to be there.

Requiring employees to wear a uniform eliminates the need for creating and enforcing a dress code. In years past employees would usually wear similar, conservative clothing, but in today’s world workers tend to express their individuality through clothing. Enforcing a dress code is time consuming and can lead to hard feelings on the part of employees who are told that their attire is not appropriate for the workplace.

When wearing a uniform regardless of the service or organization you belong to you should have the utmost respect for it Those who are going through a training period to earn the right to wear an official logo or uniform should always go above and beyond the call of duty to keep it properly cleaned, pressed, and presentable. With the idea kept in mind that not only are they not yet capable of wearing something with such high honors or prestige, but that a uniform that is dirty, wrinkled, or anything else simply proves to those who are training these individuals that not only do you not care about the valor of the uniform. But you also do not care about those who have come before you and risked and given their lives daily in that uniform

So if you wear a uniform then you are entitled to a tax rebate for all that money spent cleaning and also the unpaid labor hours dedicated to taking care of it.

HMRC allow you to claim for what you have spent if you keep all receipts, the second option is claiming you a flat rate deduction wish are amounts that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has agreed are typically spent each year by, however If your occupation isn’t listed in the HMRC site, you may still be able to claim a standard annual amount of £60 in tax relief. You don’t need to keep records of what you’ve paid for if you claim a flat rate deduction.

And more good news, you can claim for the past four year, this means you can claim back to 2012 – plus the current year – if you’ve been wearing the uniform all that time. So a basic-rate taxpayer, claiming the standard uniform allowance for 2012-2016, could reclaim £60 in total.

Am I eligible?

You are eligible for a tax deduction if the clothing you wear to work is deemed:

• A uniform
• Protective clothing
• Clothing with signage or branding of business that is occupation specific

The uniform must be mandatory in the work place and it has to be something that would not normally wear in day to day life, so a suit will not qualify but a firefighter or police office’s uniform will.

You can also claim for clothing and footwear that you wear to protect yourself from the risk of illness or injury posed by your income-earning activities or the environment in which you are required to carry them out. To be considered protective, the items must provide a sufficient degree of protection against that risk.

Protective clothing includes:

• fire-resistant and sun-protection clothing
• safety-coloured vests
• non-slip nurse’s shoes
• rubber boots for concreters
• steel-capped boots, gloves, overalls, and heavy-duty shirts and trousers
• Overalls, smocks and aprons you wear to avoid damage or soiling to your ordinary clothes during your income-earning activities.

Before making a claim:

• You must have paid income tax during the year you are claiming for
• The uniform must be mandatory at your work place
• If you get any allowance from your employer to clean the uniform then you cannot claim
• You can claim back as far as 5 years (this includes the current tax year)

 If you’re claiming a tax allowance for the first time or you paid out more than £1,000, you will need to Fill in the P87 form online, you can submit it online also there are a lot of websites that offer to do this for you, but as most charge a fee, you can avoid this by doing it yourself for free.

You can also claim by post, you’ll have to fill in the P87 form online and print it out and send it to Pay As You Earn, HM Revenue and Customs, BX9 1AS. Write ‘Repayment Claim’ on the envelope to speed things up. You’ll need to fill in one form for each year you’re claiming for.