Martin Lewis urges everyone to make four checks before April tax deadline
Martin Lewis has urged millions of people to check if they can claim potentially thousands of pounds back before the end of the current tax year.
Speaking during his Martin Lewis Money Show broadcast on ITV last night, the financial guru explained several ways you may be able to reclaim tax. He first urged married couples to check if they’re able to benefit from marriage tax allowance.
Marriage tax allowance is worth up to £252 for the current 2023/24 tax year - but claims can also be backdated by four years. This means if you claim for this tax year and backdate four previous tax years, you could get up to £1,256.
In order to be eligible, one of you needs to be a non-taxpayer while the other person needs to be paying the basic 20% rate of tax. The person who doesn’t pay tax then transfers £1,260 of their personal allowance to their spouse or civil partner to cut their yearly tax bill. Your personal allowance is the amount you can earn tax-free each tax year.
Martin explained: “If you don't apply now, you may lose £250. There are around a staggering 2,100,000 couples out there who are eligible for this. It is big money and [they] are not claiming it.”
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The MoneySavingExpert.com founder also urged people to check if they can claim back tax on their work uniform. You may be entitled to claim if you have to wash, repair or replace your uniform - and this applies if it is a full uniform, or even just a branded t-shirt.
The standard allowance for uniform maintenance is £60, so if you're a basic-rate taxpayer, you'll get 20% of this £60 back, which works out at £12. For higher-rate taxpayers, you would get 40% back which would be £24. Again, you can backdate your claim by up to four tax years.
Martin said: "Do you wear a recognisable uniform to work? If so, you can claim tax back if you wash or repair it yourself. Even if it's just a branded t-shirt. The minimum allowance you get is £60 a year - in some categories, you get more - so that's a £12 a year gain at 20% tax."
Martin next mentioned about reclaiming tax on PPI payouts. When the payouts were made, banks refunded the PPI premium plus 8% in statutory interest. The statutory interest part is taxed as savings, and most firms deducted this automatically.
But since April 2016, more people have been due some of this tax back thanks to the introduction of the personal savings allowance. This allows basic rate taxpayers to earn £1,000 a year tax-free interest on their savings, or £500 for higher-rate payers.
Martin said: "Most people should not have been taxed on it and were taxed. In which case, it is the year of your payout that counts for tax purposes. So, many people, because that 2019/20 year is disappearing, need to do this right now - or you're going to lose the opportunity. Check the PPI payout paperwork, check the date you were paid and check whether you would have paid tax on the statutory interest."
Finally, the MSE founder urged everyone to check if they are on the right tax code - if not, you could be owed potentially thousands of pounds back in tax. The most common code for the current tax year is 1257L for people who have one job or pension - although not everyone will be on this.
Martin said: "The code tells your employer or pension provider what tax to deduct... It is not your employer's responsibility to make sure it's correct. It is your responsibility. So you need to check it if you're overpaying."
There are several ways you can find your tax code - the simplest way to check is to look at your latest payslip, or on your P45 if you have recently quit your job. You can also ask your HR department if they can tell you your tax code. GOV.UK website has a dedicated webpage where you can see your tax code as well - to check it online, you will need to register for a government gateway ID.
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