Tax relievable expenses – helping your staff to get this right

HMRC is asking employers to help raise awareness among their staff about when and on what they are entitled to claim employment expenses.

Apparently, each week HMRC receives around 5,800 claims from employees for tax relief on employment expenses such as travel expenses, fees and professional subscriptions and laundry costs.  Of those claims, on average 18% are refused because they are either not allowable or because the claim cannot be substantiated.

HMRC is concerned that employees do not understand what is claimable, hence the large numbers of unsuccessful claims.  HMRC wants employees to be able to claim relevant expenses, but incorrect claims can be time consuming and HMRC would like to stop this.

HMRC is asking employers to help raise employees’ awareness about what they can claim.  The suggestion is to refer them to HMRC’s website at www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/tax-allow-ees.htm .

These pages provide helpful and reliable guidance which can be used by your staff to decide whether a claim is appropriate.