4 ms·

I wouldn't know what I would be able to get tax relief for as an employee. What kind of deductibles? Guess, I could claim that £6 per week for Covid work from

by wdb 5y ago

I wouldn't know what I would be able to get tax relief for as an employee. What kind of deductibles? Guess, I could claim that £6 per week for Covid work from home stuff. Wish you could claim the cost of repairing your bike, or public transport costs.

maccard 5y ago
Most of the big ones can be done without a self assessment. If you make a pension contribution for example, you can call hmrc and tell them and they'll adjust your tax code
- RHSeeger 5y ago
  Doesn't that more or less equate to doing your taxes, just in little updates for each thing, rather than one big update at the end of the year?
  - maccard 5y ago
    Not at all. The list of things you can claim for is very limited, and the majority of them are automatically applied. Having to actually contact HMRC is a rarity. If you are salaried employee with no extra cash coming in, you don't need to do anything. Another example of how the system works - if you are working two jobs, both as a regular employee, HRMC will instruct your employer as to what your tax deduction should be for that paycheck to make sure that things are balanced. For <some large number>% of people, this will be correct, and if it's not, it will rectify itself over 2 or 3 pay periods. If that's _still_ not enough, a phone call to HMRC (usually taking less than 10 minuts for the two times in a decade I've had to do it) will resolve the issue in your next check.
ridiculous_fish 5y ago
Charitable contributions? How are those treated?
- joshuaissac 5y ago
  Those are claimed by the recipient under a programme called Gift Aid.
  - ridiculous_fish 5y ago
    Do I understand correctly that charities report contributions to the government, which then adjusts the taxes due from the donors? That seems like a good system.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - joshuaissac 5y ago
      The tax relief goes to the charity itself, rather than the donor. They can claim a top-up of up to 25% of your donation from the government, as long as the total amount claimed by all donation recipients does not exceed the total annual income tax paid by the donor. So if you donate £100 and fill out a declaration saying that you 'Gift Aid' that donation, the charity can claim an additional £25 from the government, as long as you paid at least £25 in income taxes that financial year.
      - oarsinsync 5y ago
        Note that if you're paying in the 40% and/or 45% income tax brackets, the charity doesn't know about that, and still only gets the 25% topup (equivalent to the 20% income tax most people pay). You can either: * Gift that remaining amount to HMRC by doing nothing (it will not go to the charity) * Claim it back (I don't know any other way to do this other than filing a self assessment)
        beardyw 5y ago
        But when you get it back you think - I can give that to charity - thus begining a never-ending loop.
ZeroGravitas 5y ago
You can claim those, if you use the transport as part of your work but notably not for travelling to and from work, 20p per mile for the bike.

by wdb 5y ago

maccard 5y ago

Most of the big ones can be done without a self assessment. If you make a pension contribution for example, you can call hmrc and tell them and they'll adjust your tax code

RHSeeger 5y ago
Doesn't that more or less equate to doing your taxes, just in little updates for each thing, rather than one big update at the end of the year?
- maccard 5y ago
  Not at all. The list of things you can claim for is very limited, and the majority of them are automatically applied. Having to actually contact HMRC is a rarity. If you are salaried employee with no extra cash coming in, you don't need to do anything. Another example of how the system works - if you are working two jobs, both as a regular employee, HRMC will instruct your employer as to what your tax deduction should be for that paycheck to make sure that things are balanced. For <some large number>% of people, this will be correct, and if it's not, it will rectify itself over 2 or 3 pay periods. If that's _still_ not enough, a phone call to HMRC (usually taking less than 10 minuts for the two times in a decade I've had to do it) will resolve the issue in your next check.

ridiculous_fish 5y ago

Charitable contributions? How are those treated?

joshuaissac 5y ago
Those are claimed by the recipient under a programme called Gift Aid.
- ridiculous_fish 5y ago
  Do I understand correctly that charities report contributions to the government, which then adjusts the taxes due from the donors? That seems like a good system.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - joshuaissac 5y ago
    The tax relief goes to the charity itself, rather than the donor. They can claim a top-up of up to 25% of your donation from the government, as long as the total amount claimed by all donation recipients does not exceed the total annual income tax paid by the donor. So if you donate £100 and fill out a declaration saying that you 'Gift Aid' that donation, the charity can claim an additional £25 from the government, as long as you paid at least £25 in income taxes that financial year.
    - oarsinsync 5y ago
      Note that if you're paying in the 40% and/or 45% income tax brackets, the charity doesn't know about that, and still only gets the 25% topup (equivalent to the 20% income tax most people pay). You can either: * Gift that remaining amount to HMRC by doing nothing (it will not go to the charity) * Claim it back (I don't know any other way to do this other than filing a self assessment)
      - beardyw 5y ago
        But when you get it back you think - I can give that to charity - thus begining a never-ending loop.

ZeroGravitas 5y ago

You can claim those, if you use the transport as part of your work but notably not for travelling to and from work, 20p per mile for the bike.