In a nutshell, form P87 is all about how to claim for some the costs of employment. The chances are that at some point this year you will have incurred some form of work-related expenses. We all tend to have them, and in our experience we all tend to ignore them at times. It’s easy to understand why we do this. In the bustle of daily life and the need to ‘get the job done’ that quick journey you took to see a client or remembering to claim for the cost of working from home can seem less important. In the wake of everyone being focused on the Covid-19 crisis it is even more understandable. We have all been going above and beyond and trying a little harder, but that doesn’t mean you should miss out on anything owed to you. Filling in you P87 is a bit of a chore maybe but it really isn’t a big one and it will mean you are claiming back everything you are owed.
If you have done any of the following and not been paid for it by your employer, then you can probably claim.
- Worked from home
- Traveled for work
- Parked your car for some work purposed
- Purchased any equipment or materials
- Paid any professional fees such as union dues
- Used public transport for work purposes
- In some cases, you can also claim the difference between the amount paid by your employer for some expenses and the amount HMRC consider reasonable.
The above list is just the general categories you could be claiming for. There may be more depending on your circumstances.
How Much Will Get Back?
Well, that depends on what you have and haven’t claimed, what your current tax rate is and the circumstances surrounding your claim. In some cases, it could just be a percentage of the difference between what you have been paid by your employer and the amount you can legitimately claim under HMRC allowances. In other cases, if you have been unexpectedly working from home for example, it could be considerably more.
For a basic rate tax payer (20%) you should be able to claim 20% of any expenses that you have not been paid for. OK, that may not be a lottery win but it’s defiantly worth investigating if you are owed it.
Is it Worth it?
Well, we can’t say for certain in this article because each person is different. However, the fact is that many people spent a lot of time working from home in the past year and many have had their working routine changed. If you think are owed a tax rebate then for the sake of filling the P87 form it seems well worth it. All you will need is your employment details, the details of your expenses and some other information with you should have easily to hand. One group of people who are particularly prone to missing out on this entitlement are company directors and management teams. They get busy, they get in a hurry and in the grand scheme of things a few pounds here and there don’t seem to matter very much. However, a few pounds over the year soon adds up and you could entitled to a significant amount of rebate. Many people miss out on their entitlement to tax every year and in the current difficult times a few extra pounds in the bank would be very welcome I’m sure.
