The ultimate set up of our tax refund mini-series appears to be within the tax deductions available to other workers in the nursing and health care sectors. In this article, we start looking at how much you could possibly claim back should you be a Nurse, a Pharmacist or even a Pharmacy Technician on PAYE.
Nurses & Midwives The majority of nurses working under PAYE can assert tax relief in excess of £300 using this service, but the figure rises to over £1,000 in the case of more specialist roles such as midwives. As with all claims of this type, claimants need to make sure that they're paying tax via the PAYE system rather than through Self Assessment. For anyone who is unsure which of these tax systems you fall under, speak to your manager or HR department to find out.
Pharmacists Pharmacists attract special tax relief, with many able to assert over £1,000 in tax relief against General Pharmaceutical Council membership fees alone. New recruits won't be entitled to nearly this amount, but the assert should still cover in excess of £250 in tax relief.
Pharmacy Technicians Pharmacy technicians can declare up to around £500 in tax relief provided they haven't claimed already inside the last four years or so. The relief is somewhat lower than that available to fully-qualified pharmacists, and for the most part this reflects the lower subscription and membership costs incurred in joining the General Pharmaceutical Council.
How long does it take to declare tax relief? It takes just a couple of minutes to complete an online tax refund application - then allow 10-12 working days for us to negotiate your refund with the tax office. Timescales tend to remain fairly static, but please do bear in mind that timescales tend to increase around January, when the tax office is particularly busy.
Claiming yours In case you are a nurse who pays tax through the PAYE system, and you wish to assert this tax relief, you should act fast because the deadline for claiming again to April 2008 is approaching. After 31 January 2013, you'll no longer be able to claim this far again - only to 2009.
Does this apply to other jobs professions too? Absolutely, HM Revenue & Customs has put in place special flat-rate tax allowances for a number of other professions in addition to healthcare. All of the major roles within the health care professions are eligible to claim - not just nurses and pharmacy staff.