Claim Tax Relief For Prison Officer Work Uniform & Clothes
It’s proving to be a sticky summer for many prison officers in the UK, thanks to hot weather and lower staffing levels, but did you know you might be able to get a little tax relief? As workers who are required to wear specific clothing in order to carry out their role, public and private prison service staff – including prison officers, OSGs and operational support officers – are entitled to claim tax back on the cost of uniform maintenance. You can claim your laundry allowance for previous years as well as the current year’s entitlement with Uniform Tax Rebate.
Looking after your prison uniform
As uniform allowance in the prison service is issued on an annual basis, it’s incredibly important to care for items well to help them last and remain in presentable condition. Failing to turn up in the correct kit can result in uncomfortable conversations with the duty officer and for repeat and serious slips; disciplinary action could be on the cards. Whatever your role in the prison service, the routine of looking after your uniform can be incredibly time consuming. Washing, ironing and boot polishing aren’t the most enticing leisure activities; they’re simple enough but when you’re working shifts there’s often a tight turnaround for uniform maintenance. Thanks to shift constraints it’s often necessary to use extra electricity on marathon washing and tumble-drying sessions, the cost of which all adds up. Throw in a week of nights when time through the day is most definitely better spent in bed than planning your next lot of laundry and you might find that you’re relying more heavily on your appliances than you’d like. You may even be paying someone else to make sure your uniform is in pristine condition ready for your shift.
Making your uniform last
The uniform allowance for prison staff employed by the government and those working within the private sector is different, though both are limited in the amount of uniform they are able to order each year. In previous years, prison offers were able to ‘purchase’ the items they needed based on a points system, which allowed them to save for specific items. Now, officers within the public sector are currently entitled to five pieces of uniform annually, including summer options.
Since prison staff members are required to wear issue non-slip boots for insurance purposes, there’s not a lot of scope to order extra shirts. While clothing allowance is different in the private sector – with generally fewer items within the allowance – the scope for acquiring additional items is much the same. You’re best bet for keeping those polyester mix items in wearable condition is to closely follow the care instructions on the label and not skimp on the fabric conditioner! However, if you are the unfortunate victim of a laundry-related accident or you find your uniform not fit for purpose thanks to weight loss or gain, you can usually send a memo to the Governor requesting additional items.
A lot of hard work goes into making sure prison wardens and other staff are presentable while walking the wings, so if you haven’t already, click on the link below to get an estimate and start your claim.
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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.