Tools and Professional Fees Tax Rebate: What Trades and Members Can Claim

Two of the most-missed claims in UK tax sit next to each other on the same HMRC form and work in completely opposite ways. Tools are a fixed allowance you claim without evidence. Professional fees are a real-cost claim you must evidence. Mixing them up is why claims come back rejected.

Here is each one properly, with the rates, the exclusions, and the backdating window.

All figures are estimates on published 2026/27 rates. Confirm your own position with HMRC.

Flat rate expense

An agreed fixed amount you can claim each tax year to cover what you spend on the clothing and tools your job requires, without keeping receipts. HMRC negotiates the amount by industry and job, and the relief is worth the amount multiplied by your marginal tax rate.

Part one: tools

HMRC's guidance on uniforms, work clothing and tools allows relief on the cost of "repairing or replacing small tools you need to do your job (for example, scissors or an electric drill)".

Note what it covers: repairing and replacing. The flat rate is designed around the ongoing cost of keeping a working kit in service, not the one-off cost of assembling one.

The rate is fixed per trade rather than based on your spending. HMRC's default line: "If your industry and job are not shown, you can claim a flat rate expense amount of £60."

If your employer contributes towards the same costs, HMRC's instruction is to "deduct the amount they pay to get the figure you can claim".

What it is worth. You get tax relief on the amount, not the amount itself. HMRC's own example: "if you claim a flat rate expense of £60 and pay tax at a rate of 20% in that year, you will pay £12 less tax". So £140 is worth about £28 a year at basic rate and £56 at higher rate, and five years of a £140 rate recovers roughly £140.

What is excluded. You cannot claim for personal protective equipment. HMRC is explicit: "If your job requires you to use PPE your employer should either give you PPE free of charge or ask you to buy it and reimburse you the costs." And if your employer pays all of your expenses, no relief is due at all.

The same flat rate also covers cleaning, repairing and replacing a uniform or specialist clothing, which our uniform tax rebate guide covers in full. You claim one flat rate per job, not one for tools and another for clothing.

Part two: professional fees and subscriptions

Completely different rules. HMRC's guidance on professional fees and subscriptions allows relief on:

• "professional membership fees, if you must pay the fees to be able to do your job"
• "annual subscriptions you pay to approved professional bodies or learned societies if being a member of that body or society is relevant to your job"

The first is the strong case: a licence to practise you cannot work without. The second is broader but conditional on two tests, approval and relevance, and both have to hold.

Approval means HMRC's list. HMRC maintains List 3, the approved professional organisations and learned societies. If your body is not on it, no relief is due however professional the subscription feels. This is where trade union subscriptions need care: a union qualifies only where it appears on that list, and only to the extent HMRC has approved. HMRC's practical instruction is short and worth following: "Your organisation can tell you how much tax you're allowed to claim back." Ask them before you claim a figure.

What is excluded. HMRC states you cannot claim relief on life membership subscriptions, nor on fees or subscriptions you "have not paid yourself (for example if your employer has paid for them)", nor on anything paid "to professional organisations that are not approved by HMRC".

Evidence is required. Unlike the flat rate, this claim needs proof: "When you claim, you must send copies of receipts, or other evidence, that show how much you paid for each professional fee or subscription." Gather these before you start rather than halfway through.

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The window: four years, plus this one

Both reliefs use the same reach. HMRC states it on both pages: "You can claim for the current tax year and the 4 previous tax years."

The four-year limit comes from TMA 1970 s43 as set out in HMRC's Self Assessment Claims Manual. You claim all the years you qualified for in one submission, so a joiner who has never claimed is looking at five years at £140, worth around £140 in tax at basic rate, in a single form.

How to claim both at once

1. Work out your tool and clothing flat rate from HMRC's list, or use £60.
2. Check your professional body against List 3 and ask the organisation what proportion is claimable.
3. Gather receipts for the subscriptions only. The flat rate needs none.
4. Claim online through HMRC's employment expenses service. Flat rates go in as "Uniform, work clothing and tools"; anything claimed at actual cost goes in as "Other expenses".
5. Or claim by post on form P87.
6. Or, if you file Self Assessment, HMRC's instruction is that "you must claim through your tax return instead".

The tax code side effect worth knowing

Once granted, these reliefs are normally built into your tax code, which raises your tax free pay and keeps the relief running automatically each year.

That is convenient until something changes. Leave the trade, stop paying the subscription, or move to an employer who provides tools, and the addition should come out of your code. It often does not, and you then have too much tax free pay and a quiet underpayment building. The reverse also happens: an unexplained addition in your code is sometimes an old allowance from a job you left years ago.

Run your current code through our free tax code checker to see whether it matches your circumstances, and read what to do about a wrong tax code if it does not.

If you are self-employed instead

None of the above applies to a sole trader. Tools, protective equipment, trade subscriptions and insurance are ordinary business expenses deducted from your profit, with no flat rate list and no List 3 approval test. That is a better deal, and it is a different mechanism. Our allowable expenses glossary entry covers the principles, and CIS subcontractors have a further layer on top, because 20% is deducted from labour before any of those expenses are counted.

What else is in the same claim

Employment expense relief is rarely a single line. Worth checking at the same time:

• Uniform tax rebate, the same flat rate seen from the clothing side
• Working from home tax relief, now closed for 2026/27 but open for the four previous years
• Am I due a tax rebate?, ten common overpayment triggers
• How to claim a tax refund from HMRC, the right route for each
• Reclaim overpaid tax, the full four-year recovery process

And before paying anyone a percentage of a £140 claim, read our guide to refund companies and their fees.

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People also ask

Can I claim tax back on tools I bought for work?

HMRC allows relief on the cost of "repairing or replacing small tools you need to do your job", and in practice most employees claim this through an agreed flat rate rather than by itemising spending. The rate depends on your trade: £140 for joiners, carpenters, welders, shipwrights and vehicle builders, £120 for many building trades and garage motor mechanics, £100 for agriculture and forestry, and £60 where your job is not on HMRC's published list. You receive tax relief on the amount rather than the amount itself, so £140 is worth about £28 at basic rate.

Are union fees tax deductible?

Only in limited circumstances. HMRC allows relief on annual subscriptions to approved professional bodies or learned societies where membership is relevant to your job, and it maintains an approved list known as List 3. A trade union subscription qualifies only where the union appears on that list, and only to the extent HMRC has approved. HMRC's own guidance says your organisation can tell you how much you are allowed to claim, so ask them for the figure before claiming. Life membership subscriptions never qualify, and neither do fees your employer paid.

Do I need receipts to claim tools and professional fees?

It depends which relief. For a flat rate tool and clothing claim, HMRC states you "do not need to send evidence", and you select it as "Uniform, work clothing and tools" within the online service. For professional fees and subscriptions the rule is the opposite: "When you claim, you must send copies of receipts, or other evidence, that show how much you paid for each professional fee or subscription." Gather those before you start, because a fees claim without evidence will not proceed.

How far back can I claim tools and subscriptions relief?

The current tax year plus the 4 previous tax years, which HMRC states on both the uniforms and tools page and the professional fees page. As at August 2026 that covers 2022/23 through 2026/27 in one submission, with the 2022/23 window closing on 5 April 2027. The four-year limit comes from TMA 1970 s43 as set out in HMRC's Self Assessment Claims Manual. You only need to have qualified during each year you claim for, so a partial period in a qualifying trade is still claimable for that year.

Can I claim for PPE my employer made me buy?

No, and HMRC is explicit about why. Its guidance states: "You cannot claim tax relief for PPE. If your job requires you to use PPE your employer should either give you PPE free of charge or ask you to buy it and reimburse you the costs." So the remedy is with your employer rather than with the tax system. Note this is different from safety boots and overalls treated as specialist clothing, where the flat rate for cleaning, repairing and replacing them does apply.