Lance's £100 Uniform Tax Refund Story
Four years ago Lance Pettet decided to quit his sales job of 19 years and his commute along the M6 corridor to become a security officer for The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and there hasn’t been a day he’s regretted his swap – even when he’s knee deep in floods from the River Severn.
“One day last year we had a lot of flooding and I had to go home and change my uniform twice. We get a new uniform every year but we’re responsible for cleaning it,” says Lance.
Thanks to Uniform Tax Rebate, Lance has received a rebate of nearly £100 and he’s now getting extra money every year for cleaning his essential clothing through an adjusted tax code.
His job has seen him protect around 300,000 visitors from around the world every year including royals – with trust patron Prince Charles a regular guest – and even the Olympic torch when was carried across the iconic Iron Bridge (built in 1779) last summer. Recently, the National Lottery launched giant balls down the River Severn and under the bridge to help promote changes to the game.
The Ironbridge Gorge is a World Heritage Site and, with ten different museums to look after and a site taking in five miles of the River Severn, there’s plenty for visitors and staff to do. As well as security and anti-terrorism training, Lance has had to do first aid and fire and safety courses. And he’s also handy with a camera when tourists need someone to take photographs of them.
“I love the variety of the job,” says Lance, who was born and bred in nearby Madeley. “You never know what’s going to happen from day to day. It can be bedlam sometimes! As well as security officers we’re caretakers, we muck in, we wear many hats. The River Severn floods on a regular basis and that creates work for us.
“We have several uniforms too. There’s summer clothing, winter clothing, formal wear for royal visits – and we host weddings and banquets too – and wet-weather gear.
“The museum only closes two days a year, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, but it’s not shut for us because we’re still on site.”
Lance discovered he could claim uniform cleaning and upkeep against tax when one of his colleagues mentioned it.
“I found the Uniform Tax Rebate site very easily. I thought ‘that looks alright’. I filled out the form – it didn’t need much clicking – and next thing I knew I got a letter with a cheque. It was quick, easy and fast, with great advice.
“I have spoken to many people in the industry and they are all claiming for uniform cleaning now. It’s such a shame it has to be done by word of mouth. The government keeps it to themselves. This allowance is there for us and it should be more well-known. It’s very useful.”
Each tax year will be recalculated if you enter a claim. This often identifies other overpayments due to incorrect tax codes, multiple employments, ceasing of job, etc. In these cases we can identify a much larger tax rebate. We regularly identify rebates of over £1,000 for customers who were originally estimated a lower amount.
If you claim now you will receive tax relief for the current tax year and future years that allowances continue to apply, paid through your monthly pay, no charge will be made on future tax relief or refunds.
You don't need to make any upfront payment to us in order for us to check if you are due a rebate.
We will ensure that your current year reliefs are correct and that your future year allowances are adjusted in line with the current year to ensure you are no longer being overtaxed. There will be no charge calculated for amending your current tax code and you will receive any tax refunds due in the current year and in future years directly.
If you are due a refund in the 4 previous tax years we will receive that refund from HMRC on your behalf and deduct charges in accordance with those quoted on the website prior to making a payment to you.
Standard deduction is 30% + £30, plus VAT, where due on any refund payment HMRC send us before passing payment on to you. Charges are limited to the previous 4 tax years we check and we will not make any deduction on future tax refunds.
If no refund is due the service is FREE to use. If a refund is due standard pricing is 30% + £30, plus VAT, where due on any refund payment HMRC send us before passing payment on to you. The charge is levied on all refunds received from HMRC covered by the claim period (4 previous years) regardless of reason. When entering a claim you agree to legally and unconditionally assign the rights to any refund for the previous 4 years to OTR, when payment is made to us we will forward the residual balance to you net of our agreed fees. On receipt of the form HMRC will manually reconcile (calculate) your tax liability for each year of your claim. If unreconciled differences are present on your taxpayer record for any year these differences may positively or negatively effect your tax liability on top of the effect of any allowances or expenses claimed for. HMRC perform a more basic automatic reconciliation on taxpayer records from April to November in the tax year following the end of each tax year. By submitting your claim you forgo the rights to any benefits that may have been accrued as a result of HMRC performing an automatic reconciliation, from the date your form is received by HMRC.