The P87 form is how UK employees claim tax relief on work expenses. What counts, the new 55p mileage rate, evidence rules, and how to backdate four years.
Most people who could claim work expenses back from HMRC never do. Not because the money is trivial, but because nobody tells you the claim exists. Your employer does not have to mention it. It does not appear on your payslip. You have to go and ask.
The P87 form is how you ask. Here is what it covers, what it is actually worth, and the two things that changed in April 2026 that make this year a better year to claim than last year.
The P87 form is HMRC’s claim for tax relief on money you spent on your job that your employer did not pay back.
That last clause is the whole test. If your employer reimbursed you, there is nothing to claim. If your employer gave you an alternative and you bought your own anyway, there is nothing to claim. If you paid for something you had to buy for work, out of your own pocket, and nobody gave you the money back, you have a claim.
One point that trips people up immediately: relief is not a refund of what you spent. It is a refund of the tax you paid on what you spent. Claim £60 as a basic-rate taxpayer and you get £12 back, not £60. Worth knowing before you get excited about a big number.
Five categories, in rough order of how often shift and hourly workers can use them.
Uniform, work clothing and tools. Cleaning, repairing or replacing a uniform, protective clothing, overalls, safety boots, or small tools. Not the initial cost of buying the uniform, and not everyday clothes even if your employer specifies a colour. A uniform means something that identifies your occupation, like scrubs or a branded tabard.
Mileage in your own vehicle. Business journeys, not your normal commute. Driving between sites, out to a client, or to a temporary workplace all count.
Professional fees and subscriptions. Only if the body is on HMRC’s approved list. The NMC for nurses and similar registration bodies are on it. Your gym membership is not.
Travel and overnight expenses. Public transport, parking and hotel costs tied to business trips.
Other equipment you had to buy and only use for work.
Notably absent from the 2026 list: working from home. More on that below.
Two ways to value your claim. You can claim the exact amount you spent, which needs receipts, or you can claim an agreed fixed amount for your job, called a flat rate expense, which needs nothing at all.
For most people the flat rate is the better deal, because the admin is zero. If your job has no agreed rate, the default is £60 a year.
Worked example, a hospital nurse on the basic rate:
That is real but small. The number that matters is the backdated one. You can claim the current tax year plus the four previous ones, and the £125 nurses’ rate has been in place since 2014, so all five years qualify:
For roughly ten minutes of form filling, on money most nurses did not know they were owed. A higher-rate taxpayer on the same claim gets £286.
This is the part of the P87 form worth paying attention to this year. HMRC raised the approved mileage rate for cars and goods vehicles from 45p to 55p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles, effective from 6 April 2026. The rate after 10,000 miles stays at 25p, motorcycles stay at 24p, and bicycles stay at 20p.
The rate had been stuck at 45p since 2011, so this is the first movement in fifteen years, and it matters most to people whose employer pays a lower mileage allowance than HMRC’s approved rate. You claim the gap.
Worked example, a community care worker doing 6,000 business miles a year whose employer pays 25p a mile:
The same journeys in the 2025 to 2026 tax year, at the old 45p rate, would have produced a £1,200 claim and £240 of relief. The rate rise put an extra £120 a year in that person’s pocket, and almost nobody who is eligible has noticed.
One limit to watch. If your total expenses claim for a single tax year comes to more than £2,500, you cannot use the P87 route at all and have to file a Self Assessment return instead. High-mileage drivers hit this fast. Ten thousand miles at 55p with no employer contribution is £5,500, well over the line.
Two routes, and the online one is faster.
Online. Start at HMRC’s claim tax relief for job expenses service. You will need a Government Gateway login, the same one the HMRC app uses. The service checks your eligibility first, then takes the claim.
By post. Download form P87 from gov.uk, complete it, print it, and post it with your evidence to the address on the form. HMRC is blunt about this: postal claims that do not use the official P87 form get rejected outright. A letter explaining your expenses will not do.
Since October 2024, HMRC requires supporting evidence before it will process most claims, which is the single biggest reason claims get bounced. What each category needs:
That mileage log requirement is stricter than most people expect. If you have been driving for work all year without recording postcodes, start recording them today, because a reconstructed estimate will not survive a check.
If your claim is for the current tax year, HMRC usually adjusts your tax code so you pay less tax each payday rather than sending a cheque. If it is for previous years, you get a refund or a code adjustment.
Two changes, one good and one not.
The good one: the 55p mileage rate above. If you drive for work and your employer pays less than that, your claim just got bigger.
The bad one: working from home relief is gone. From 6 April 2026 you cannot claim tax relief for working from home for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. The £6 a week claim that a lot of people picked up during the pandemic years no longer exists going forward.
The consolation is that the four-year backdating rule still applies to it. If you were required to work from home in any of the four previous tax years, and you can prove it with a contract clause or something equivalent, you can still claim those years. Choosing to work from home never qualified, and still does not.
What did not change: the £2,500 ceiling, the four-year window, the evidence rules from October 2024, and the requirement that you must have actually paid tax in the year you are claiming for. Relief cannot exceed the tax you paid.
One deadline worth putting in your calendar. The 2022 to 2023 tax year drops out of the four-year window on 5 April 2027. If you have never claimed and you are eligible, that year is the one you lose first.
If you want to see what a tax code adjustment from an expenses claim actually does to your monthly take-home, the NetPay app works it out alongside your income tax, National Insurance, pension and student loan. Free to download.
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You get back tax at your marginal rate on the amount you claim, not the amount itself. A basic-rate taxpayer claiming the standard £60 flat rate expense gets £12 back. A nurse claiming the £125 uniform laundering rate plus shoes and tights gets about £28.60 a year, and roughly £143 if they backdate the full five years.
Not for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. HMRC removed working from home relief from 6 April 2026. You can still claim it for the four previous tax years if you were required to work from home and you have evidence, such as a contract clause that says so.
Not if you claim the agreed flat rate for your job. Flat rate expenses need no evidence at all. You only need receipts if you claim the exact amount you actually spent, and since October 2024 HMRC will not process a claim for actual costs without them.
The current tax year plus the four previous ones. In the 2026 to 2027 tax year that means you can still claim back to 2022 to 2023, but that oldest year drops out of range on 5 April 2027.
Want to see your actual take-home pay?
NetPay UK works out your real net pay after tax, NI, pension and salary sacrifice, for hourly, shift and variable-income workers. Free to download.
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A note on financial advice: NetPay UK calculates take-home pay based on official HMRC tax rules. This article reflects rules in force at the time of publication (10 September 2026). Tax rules change. For complex situations, consult a qualified UK accountant or visit gov.uk/income-tax.
