P87 Form Explained: How to Claim Tax Relief for Job Expenses

If you pay for something you need for your job and your employer does not repay you, you may be able to reduce your tax bill. Most employees do this using form P87. This guide explains who qualifies, how much you actually receive, what evidence HMRC now demands, and the one change that catches people out this year.

What is the P87 form?

The P87 is the HMRC form employees use to claim Income Tax relief on employment expenses when they do not complete a Self Assessment tax return.

You can use it if all of the following apply:

• You paid for something you must buy for your job, and you only use it for work
• Your employer did not repay the full cost
• You paid Income Tax in the year you are claiming for
• Your total expenses claim is £2,500 or less for that tax year

If your claim exceeds £2,500 in a single tax year, you must claim through a Self Assessment tax return instead. The same applies if you already file a return for any other reason. In that case the expenses go on the return, whatever the amount.

If your employer repaid part of the cost, you may still claim relief on the balance you covered yourself.

How much tax relief will you actually get?

This is the point most guides skip, and it is the reason people feel short-changed by their first refund.

You do not get back what you spent. You get back the tax you paid on that amount, at your marginal rate.

Example

At the 40% higher rate, the same £60 claim is worth £24. Your relief can never exceed the tax you actually paid in that year.

For a claim covering the current tax year, HMRC usually adjusts your tax code so you pay less tax each payday. For earlier years, HMRC either adjusts your code or issues a repayment.

What job expenses can you claim relief on?

The test HMRC applies is strict. The cost must be incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in performing the duties of your employment.

If you buy equipment that is needed for your job but does not meet the “used only for work” test, you may still be able to claim through capital allowances rather than on a P87.

You cannot claim for ordinary clothing, even if your employer requires a particular colour or style. You cannot claim for travel between home and a permanent workplace. You cannot claim for anything used privately as well as for work, such as broadband or rent.

What are the approved mileage rates for 2026/27?

If you use your own car, van, motorcycle or bicycle for work, you claim at HMRC’s approved mileage rates. These rates cover the whole cost of owning and running the vehicle, so you cannot claim separately for fuel, vehicle tax, MOTs or repairs.

The rate for cars and goods vehicles increased at the start of the current tax year.

If your employer already pays you a mileage allowance, deduct what they paid from the approved amount. You claim relief only on the shortfall. If your employer pays at or above the approved rate, there is nothing left to claim.

Journeys to and from your normal workplace do not count. Travel to a temporary workplace does.

Can you still claim working from home tax relief?

No, not for the current tax year. From 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027 you cannot claim tax relief for working from home.

You can still claim for the four previous tax years if you were eligible at the time. For those years you could claim either £6 a week or the exact additional household costs you incurred, and you had to send evidence that you were required to work from home.

The eligibility test for those earlier years was narrow. You qualified only if you had to work from home, for example because your employer had no office or your job required you to live far from one. You did not qualify if you chose to work from home, or if your contract merely permitted it.

The earliest year still open is 2022/23, and that window closes on 5 April 2027. If you were required to work from home in that year and never claimed, there is limited time left.

Your employer can still reimburse you tax-free

The withdrawal applies only to claims you make to HMRC yourself. It does not change the separate rules that let an employer reimburse homeworking costs.

Where there is a genuine homeworking arrangement, an employer can pay up to £6 a week, or £26 a month, towards additional household costs free of Income Tax and National Insurance. No receipts are needed at that level. An employer can pay more than £6 a week tax-free, but only where there is evidence that the employee’s additional household costs are genuinely higher.

Two points to be clear about:

• The payment must come from your employer through payroll. You cannot claim this amount from HMRC yourself
• The employer exemption is wider than the old employee relief was. It can apply where an employee works from home by agreement, not only where they are required to

Separately, from 6 April 2026 new exemptions apply where an employer reimburses certain work-related costs, including homeworking equipment, eye tests and flu vaccinations.

If you have lost the £6 a week relief this year, the practical step is to ask your employer whether they will pay a homeworking allowance instead. For a basic rate taxpayer, £6 a week reimbursed in full is worth more than the relief ever was, because you receive the whole amount rather than the tax on it.

How do you claim tax relief using form P87?

There are three routes, and the right one depends on your circumstances.

1. Claim online

The fastest option for most employees. HMRC’s online service at tax relief for employees asks which expenses you are claiming, checks whether you qualify and then guides you through the claim. You need a Government Gateway account.

If you are claiming only the flat rate for uniform, work clothing and tools, you do not need to send any evidence.

For professional fees, you will need the full annual fee and any amount your employer contributed. Check that your organisation appears on HMRC’s published list of approved professional bodies before claiming, because subscriptions to bodies outside that list do not qualify.

2. Claim by post using form P87

Use this if you cannot claim online.

1. Download the current P87 form from GOV.UK. HMRC rejects postal claims that are not made on its own P87 form, and the form and guidance notes were last updated in June 2026, so do not reuse a copy saved previously.
2. Open it in the latest free version of Adobe Reader. It may not work inside a web browser.
3. Complete every box relevant to your claim. Mandatory fields are marked, and incomplete forms are rejected.
4. Sign and date the declaration.
5. Send the form together with copies of your evidence to the HMRC address printed on the form.

Use one form to cover multiple tax years and multiple employments. Keep a copy for your records.

3. Claim through Self Assessment

If you already complete a tax return, or your claim exceeds £2,500 for a tax year, put the expenses on your return rather than on a P87.

How far back can you claim?

You can claim for the current tax year and the four previous tax years.

Once a deadline passes, that year is closed permanently. If you have several years of unclaimed expenses, deal with the oldest first.

What about flat rate expenses?

For uniform, work clothing and tools, HMRC publishes agreed fixed amounts by industry and occupation. These remove the need to keep receipts.

Where no specific occupational rate applies, HMRC accepts a default annual amount for qualifying uniform and laundry costs. HMRC’s list of industries and jobs sets out the higher agreed rates for particular trades. Check your own occupation against that list before claiming, because the agreed amounts vary widely and several were revised in recent years.

You still need to meet the qualifying conditions. A flat rate is a simplification of the evidence requirement, not a relaxation of the eligibility test.

A warning about refund agents

Companies offering to reclaim your tax relief for a fee are common, and several take a substantial percentage of any repayment.

The law changed in 2023. Assignments of Income Tax repayments, which transferred legal ownership of your refund to the agent, are void for any assignment HMRC received on or after 15 March 2023. Agents must now use a nomination instead. The practical difference matters to you: with a nomination you remain legally entitled to the money, HMRC pays your nominee at its discretion, and you can withdraw the nomination.

HMRC also has specific rules covering repayments claimed on someone else’s behalf where a fee is charged. Before signing anything, check what proportion of your refund the company keeps, whether the arrangement covers future years as well as the one you are claiming for, and whether you are signing a nomination rather than something described as an assignment.

A straightforward uniform or mileage claim takes most people under twenty minutes online and costs nothing.

Common mistakes that get claims rejected

• Using an outdated version of the P87 form for a postal claim
• Claiming working from home relief for 2026/27, when it is no longer available
• Claiming mileage for commuting to a permanent workplace
• Sending mileage logs without the reason for each journey or the start and end postcodes
• Claiming the full cost of an item and expecting the full amount back, rather than relief at your tax rate
• Claiming for a year in which you paid no Income Tax
• Submitting a P87 when you already file a Self Assessment return