Are you claiming tax relief on your Napo subscription? If not, then please read on.
Because Napo is recognised by HMRC as a Professional Association, the amount you pay in subscriptions can be added to your tax allowance. For those paying tax at the basic rate, currently 20%, the average saving is about £40 every year. You’ll save even more if you are paying tax at the higher rate of 40%.
You can submit a claim for tax relief for the current tax year and for a maximum of the four previous tax years. HMRC will automatically increase your personal tax allowance for the amount of your annual subscriptions going forward. You then only need to inform them in future if your annual subscription fees change (up or down), or if you cancel your membership and no longer pay subscription fees. Any refund for years prior to the current tax year will be paid by HMRC directly to you by either cheque or bank transfer.
Claiming tax relief on your Napo subscription is simple but HMRC have changed the process from an on-line claim to a postal claim and require evidence of the expenditure.
Steps to claim your tax relief:
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Your first step is to click this link which will guide you through a few simple questions
Read through the notes and then click on “Start Now” to through the questions.
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The next screen will list a number of expense types – you will want to select the option for “Professional fees and subscriptions” and then click “Continue”.
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You will then be asked a few simple Yes/No types of question to determine your eligibility for tax relief. Work through the questions and you will then be told if you are eligible for tax relief or not.
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If you are eligible to claim tax relief you will see a button labelled “Claim by post”. Click on this button.
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At this point you can follow the instructions on the HMRC website, including downloading the applicatiion form and guidance notes. The address to which to send the claim is also on this page.
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Note: When the form asks about the organisation you are paying subscription fees to note that Napo is known as “Probation Officers, National Association of” by HMRC.
You will need contact the Napo Membership team by email at membership@napo.org.uk to request a copy of your paid subscription fees that you can submit as evidence to HMRC with your completed form.
Once you have posted your completed form and evidence to HMRC you will then need to wait for them to process the claim which can take a number of weeks.
For members who do not feel they need the tax relief and, therefore, would not otherwise claim, how about claiming and covenanting the difference to the Edridge Fund? (details available from your Branch Edridge Rep).
Yours sincerely
Napo Vice-Chair (Finance)