UK Pilots' PAYE Tax Allowances

[capt waffoo]

I have had for years an additional amount added to my basic tax code to cater for "Professional Expenses", ie licence renewal, medicals, uniform cleaning, flight bag, sunglasses, extra shirts etc that comes to around £600.

What, if any, does anyone else get allowed for this by the tax man?

Has he ever queried it or refused to accept it?

And for those folks out there who do not know of this facility, get working on it because tax relief on six hundred quid (and I think that figure is now rather low) is worth making a bit of effort for.

Input please!

[Herod]

Yes, £ 600 would be nice. However, the latest within my company, and I think a lot of others is £ 130. Tax at 22% gives you the wonderful amount of £ 28.60 in your pocket.

[nice_beaver]

I get 290 quid now but used to be closer to 600. It seemed to change when we got flight pay treated differently for tax purposes.

[EDDNR]

Speak to BALPA, they have the standard figure that you can add to your tax return. I don't think it matters how your allowances are taxed. I've claimed the 580 quid (or whatever it is) allowance for years without question from Hector.

Rod

[Firestorm]

I recently started a new job in Glasgow, and phoned the tax office to see what information they needed to adjust my tax code. The whole negotiation took about 5 minutes, over the phone, and I was asked several times if there were any other expenses I wanted taken into consideration. For the price of a phone call everyone should do it. Don't expect Brother Brown to apply it automatically as he would be the last one to let a penny slip out of his greasy grip.

[aerobat]

We used to get £720 but the Revenue have dropped it this year to £130.

[Lonestar]

On the subject of tax, does anyone know whether the IR would consider bond repayments as an allowable expense.ie I am jumping ship and taking a training bank loan with me set up by my previous company. In my unbiased opinion I dont see why I should pay tax on this training expenditure!!

[D-IFF_ident]

How is flight pay treated differently?

[Smudge's Lot]

At the White Hatters,we used to get £535 a year but as of 6th April 2000 we were no longer entitled to the allowance as informed by the Companys local Tax Office.BALPA has tried to sort something out but still waiting.If you guys are still getting an allowance, make use of it while you can.Just wished the Inland Revenue did treat everyone fairly and not just down to the discretion of the local Inspector!!

[scroggs]

At Virgin, ours went up to £600 last year. I understand that the amount is decided by negotiation between your company and your tax office. If your allowance is inadequate, claim more - but be prepared to justify it!

[freightdoggy dog]

scroogs is correct, our company/local tax office allows £720 for aircrew and £120 tool allowance for ground crew. However you have to justify with receipts if it is a new claim.

[Dan Winterland]

Lonestar, I seem to recall the topic of tax relief on bonds was covered in another thread. I have just tried to find it and failed, but I seem to recall the answer was to get your company to issue a receipt for the bond repayment stating that it was for payment of training costs. I gather the IR don't have a problem with this.

I have always found a call to your personal assessor to be beneficial. Mine is often in agreement to my point of view. A jolly nice chap, we are even on first name terms!