Tax relief (like a tax deduction) reduces the amount of tax you have to pay. You’ll use the P87 form to claim tax relief, or to get a partial refund on the stuff you’ve have to buy for work yourself.
It’s a good idea to fill this form out either at the end of the financial year, or when you’re leaving the UK. But you can only use this form if:
- You’re an employee (not self-employed)
- You don’t complete a Self Assessment tax return
- You spent your own money on these expenses (and didn’t get reimbursed by your employer)
- You paid income tax in the financial year you’re claiming relief for (you can’t ask for money back that you haven’t paid!)
- The expenses total less than £2,500 per year
- You’re claiming for expenses you incurred within the past 4 years
When it comes to actually completing the form you have two options.
First is online, which sounds like the simplest in our modern technology driven world, but after faffing about for a few days trying and failing to get a Government Gateway ID and password I gave up (stupid technology…) and used the postal form.
The good old snail mail worked fine, so I’ll take you through the form you print and post here.