tax relief

[jingo1]

I have to provide and launder my own clothes for work.. am I entitled to any tax relief?

[colin6789]

I am not an expert but, If your clothes are not normally worn in everyday life, i.e overalls or lab coat, or very perscriptive you may be able to get the tax back on them, there was a case some years ago with a female barrister and the black suite she had to wear in court and wether it was everday clothes she could wear outside work.

It the clothes could be considered PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) your employer must supply them to you free of charge.

As for laundering them, nurses do get tax relief on this but it may be a special negotiated thing with the tax office, and because the uniforms must be washed seperatly and on a hot wash.

[Buenchico]

If you're employed, see here:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/tax-allow-ees .htm

If you're self-employed, see here:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-self-e mp.htm

Chris

[terambulan]

If you're self-employed your living costs are set against your income for tax relief......that includes purchase of washing powder/machine iron etc.

[Ethel]

Are you really sure about that, terambulan?

Maybe if your workclothes are so specialist that you need a washing machine only for those, for fear of contaminating normal clothes, you could claim tax relief on a washing machine.

Unless your line of business is a launderette.

[Nannyjill]

I used to work for a medical company which involved going into hospital and sometimes into the operating theatres and although I could claim for the clothes and the laudering, wasn't able to claim for a washing machine.

Sure the only reason could claim for laudering was because of the operating theatre visits. I think though that it was an agreement as Colin suggested between the tax office and the company.

[terambulan]

If S.E. Ethel, you only have your income for all exes. Notwithstanding allowances or percentage of certain exes - tax Office advise. ie percentage of petrol exes claimed allowing for social use.

[buildersmate]

There are very clear HMRC rules, Terence, for both employed and self-employed people about what you can claim and can't claim. And as far as I know, the rules under SE for clothing allowance are no different from employed. You would have to obtain a dispensation from HMRC by writing to them to do this. You can't just shove it onto the list of expenses to offset against profits.