Can I claim for washing my MOD uniform?
Yes, HMRC allows tax relief to be claimed on the cost of taking care of a work uniform or protective clothing.
In 2014 HMRC agreed a flat rate expense for laundry of uniform for qualifying MOD employees. The allowance is normally automatically included in your tax code, which is good news because it means you don’t have to actively submit a claim.
You can claim an allowance of up to £100 (per tax year) for washing your MOD uniform if you are a member of the Army, Royal Marines or Royal Air Force, and £80 if you are in the Royal Navy.
If you don’t think your tax code includes your uniform allowance, you should speak to HMRC or your payroll department for clarification.
Can I claim tax relief for anything else?
MoD employees can claim tax relief for other work expenses so, while you’re checking your uniform allowance, you may as well see what else might be applicable. For example:
- Travel costs. To be entitled to claim tax relief on your travel costs, you must use your own car (or public transport) to travel from your own home to a location where you are expected to be based at for 24 months or less. The historical confusion between HMRC and the MoD around their different definitions of ‘temporary’ have now been resolved. You can claim the difference between your HTD pay and the full allowable rate to a ‘temporary workplace’, as defined by HMRC. (Note: This is not the same as a ‘temporary posting order’).
- Marriage Allowance Transfer. This is often applicable to military couples and it applies to those in a civil partnership or marriage. If one partner earns less than their Personal Allowance amount during one tax year, they can transfer that across to their civil partner, husband or wife. The higher earner then saves money on their tax bill as a result.
Please use our free MOD refund calculator to get a more personalised idea of how much you could be owed.
How Tax Rebate Services can help you with your MoD Uniform tax rebate claim
We have years of experience (since 2002) with making tailored tax relief claims for armed forces personnel. Our tax experts ensure that you only apply legitimate reliefs and fully optimise your claim so that you don’t miss out on any of your entitlements.
We are fully qualified and regulated professionals with an enviable reputation for excellent customer service. You just need to have a quick chat with us, provide the necessary information and then leave all the details to us.
You can skip the phone queues to HMRC and the time consuming paperwork, we’ll do all that for you. It doesn’t cost you anything to find out because we have a ‘No rebate, No fee’ policy; so the process is entirely ‘no risk’ for you.
If you think you might qualify, fill in our contact form below or give us a call on 01228 520477 to find out more.
