AAT membership fees tax deductible?

Samamac

I wonder if someone would be able to provide an answer to the following:

I'm a student member currently studying the personal tax unit, and I've just read in my (bpp) textbook that subscriptions to professional bodies qualify as deductible expenditure in the calculation of taxable earnings, if relevant to the duties of employment.

Does this mean that student and full members working in accounting roles can claim tax relief for their AAT membership fees? If so, does anyone have any experience of claiming this allowance?

I'm fairly new to all things tax-related, so I just wondered if this was a benefit that student members could utilise?

Many thanks in advance.

coojee

I don't think you can as a student as you're not a member yet. Once you are a full member then provided membership is required for your employment then you can claim it against tax. It must be a requirement of your job though, you can't work on the checkout in Sainsbury's and claim it for example. If it applies, just write to HMRC to tell them about it and they'll amend your tax code. Often though, if membership is a requirement of employment, the employer will pay the fees in which case, obviously, you can't claim it but it also isn't an assessable BIK.

clegganator

I'm a student and I claim it. My employer pays my study fees but I pay my membership. Studying is therefore part of my job but I can't study without my subscriptions.

Wholly, exclusively & necessarily!

Rozzi Rainbow

I claimed it when I was a student, and still do now. The first year I claimed I waited until after the 5th April and claimed for the year just ended on a P87 form from the HMRC website. I've just looked now though and they seem to now only require this if you are claiming for over £1,000:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/how-to-get.htm#2

Took till the end of August for my tax refund to come through though! They then amended my tax code (even though I didn't really want them to, I was happy just claiming after the end of the year) so I get relief in year now.

clegganator

I do mine via my tax return. It's another job, but at least I get the tax back quickly.

Samamac

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for your responses, that's really helpful.

I'll give it a go and see if I can get my first tax refund!

Thanks again.