NASUWT Tax Rebate: Two-Thirds of Your Fee Counts

An NASUWT tax rebate gives you back income tax on the NASUWT subscription you pay yourself. HMRC’s approved list restricts that relief to two-thirds of the annual subscription, so the remaining third of the fee stays outside the claim. A claim can stretch back four years and include the current tax year too.

That two-thirds figure lives in HMRC’s list itself, printed in brackets beside the union’s entry, so it’s the list rather than the union that sets your limit. Put simply, two-thirds of the subscription is tax deductible and the rest isn’t.

NASUWT’s own subscriptions pages don’t give a percentage, and point members to the government’s guidance on professional fees instead.

This page is for NASUWT members who pay their subscription out of their own pocket, whether you teach full time, part time or on supply.

If you’re looking at an NASUWT tax rebate for more than one year, three things change what you can claim: whether your employer covered any of the fee, which tax years you’re going back to, and whether you’re already in Self Assessment.

Your NASUWT tax rebate stops at two-thirds

HMRC’s approved bodies sit on List 3, and NASUWT’s entry says relief “is restricted to two-thirds” of the yearly subscription.

Whatever you pay, a third of it doesn’t count towards relief. School leaders in NAHT face the same restriction, set out on the NAHT tax rebate page.

The usual tests for any union fee still apply. Your membership must relate to the work you do, the fee has to come from your own money, and life membership is excluded, according to GOV.UK’s professional fees and subscriptions page.

You can claim online through HMRC, or on your tax return if you already file one.

NASUWT tax relief: 13p per pound at 20%

The cap applies first, then your tax rate. Here’s the sum for a member who paid £240 across one tax year (an illustrative figure):

• You paid £240 in the tax year.
• The two-thirds cap leaves £160 to relieve.
• A basic rate (20%) taxpayer saves £32.
• A higher rate (40%) taxpayer saves £64.

Those two savings are your NASUWT tax refund for that year, depending on your band. Either one is capped at the income tax you actually paid that year.

Put another way, each £1 of subscription returns about 13.3p at the basic rate. For comparison, the NEU tax rebate has no cap, so the same £240 paid to the NEU would give £48.

January rate changes split the NASUWT tax year

NASUWT’s published rates have taken effect from 1 January, which falls partway through a tax year. One tax year can include payments at two different rates, so a single annual figure may not match what you paid.

The rates for earlier years sit behind the members’ login on the NASUWT site. Your bank statements or payslips show the amounts that actually left your account, and they’re the better record for totalling each tax year, which ends on 5 April.

HMRC asks for receipts or other evidence of what you paid, so keep those statements with your claim.

Claiming your NASUWT tax refund

The claim itself comes down to four points:

• Claim through HMRC’s tax relief service, or on paper using form P87.
• Put the claim on your Self Assessment return instead if you already complete one.
• Claim two-thirds of each tax year’s payments, not the whole subscription.
• HMRC usually reflects the current year in your tax code and repays earlier years by refund or a code change.

Bank statements showing each payment are the evidence to have ready if HMRC asks.

The teacher tax rebate guide sets out when the claim must go through Self Assessment and what evidence HMRC expects.

Your next step on an NASUWT tax rebate

Confirm the subscription came from your own pocket, with nothing reimbursed. Next, total what you paid in each tax year you’re claiming for, using your own statements rather than a published annual rate.

Take two-thirds of each year’s total, because that’s the limit on HMRC’s list, and multiply it by your tax rate to see the relief. Keep the evidence of payment, as HMRC can ask for it.

Make the claim by the route that fits you, as listed above, and keep bank statements to hand in case HMRC asks for evidence.

If you’ve paid other bodies too, the teacher tax rebate FAQs cover other unions and fees.

Key Takeaways

• An NASUWT tax rebate comes from HMRC, as tax relief on fees you funded, not as a payment from the union.
• NASUWT’s entry on HMRC’s approved list limits relief to two-thirds of what you pay each year.
• Every £240 paid to NASUWT relieves £160, a saving of £32 for a basic rate taxpayer (an example figure).
• NASUWT rates have taken effect from 1 January, so total what you actually paid in each tax year from your own statements.
• Up to five tax years, counting the current one, can go into a claim made online or through Self Assessment.