Teachers and other educational professionals are eligible to claim a tax rebate if they pay fees for membership into professional bodies. Many different professional bodies, although not all, have an agreement in place with HMRC which allows tax relief on their membership fees.
The amount of tax relief you can claim depends upon which professional body you pay into. For example for payments made into NUT you are eligible to claim back 66.6% of the annual subscription charge but for VOICE you can claim back 70%. Other professional unions have different allowable rates of tax relief and some have none at all.
A teacher tax rebate claim can be made within the previous four tax years, which means you could be eligible for a refund of tax from each of the last four tax years.
Teachers are also regularly eligible for tax refunds on other costs relating to their profession, these can include costs of specialist clothing, for example sportswear for a PE teacher or protective overalls for a technology teacher.
If you are a teacher, contact a tax professional to find out if you qualify for a teacher tax rebate.
