HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) released a new form P87 to help standardise tax relief on work-related expense claims.
What is a form P87?
An employee can submit a form P87 to claim tax relief on employment expenses that they are liable for in the course of their employment. For example, an employee can claim for professional subscriptions, professional fees, mileage, laundry or working from home expenses, the latter becoming more popular in recent years. The form should only be used where those expenses are not reimbursed by their employer.
An employee can only use a form P87 if their total allowable expenses are less than £2,500 for the tax year. If an employee’s expenses exceed this figure the employee should be completing a self-assessment tax return to claim any associated income tax relief.
In the past there were multiple ways an employee could claim the relief, including calling HMRC but by setting up a standard approach, HMRC are confident that this will make the process more efficient, help towards the system becoming fully automated, enable them to process repayments quicker and ensure that any coding adjustments are processed quickly
The new form is compulsory to use from 7 May 2022 and HMRC will reject any substitute claim forms they receive after this date. It is still possible for an employee to claim via post or via HMRC’s online services.
It is worth noting that in order to complete the form online, the individual will require a government gateway login.
Should you require any help completing the new claim form please do not hesitate to get in touch with a member of our team.