HMRC Financial Support Guide

HMRC has launched a new area of the gov.uk website to list ways taxpayers can access financial support or reduce their tax liability. The new HMRC Financial Support Guide is intended to help with the rising cost of living and enable people to check they are claiming all that they can.

This is in response to recent research which has shown that many people don’t claim reliefs to which they may be entitled.

Examples include:

• The marriage allowance enables a taxpayer to transfer 10%, or £1,260, of their personal tax allowance to their partner if they earn less than the £12,570 threshold.
• Employees can also claim employment expense tax relief on work uniforms, tools and even business travel.

Myrtle Lloyd, director general of the customer services group for HMRC, said: ‘We understand these are very difficult times for so many so it is vitally important we continue to highlight the range of support available. We’d encourage those who think they may be eligible for support to take a look and claim what they’re entitled to – it could make an important difference to household budgets at a time when it’s needed the most.’

You can see the new ‘Checking for Eligibility’ page here.

We consider all of the reliefs included in the HMRC Financial Support Guide for our clients when we come to prepare their tax returns each year, so if you’re on our Personal Tax client list, this isn’t something you need to worry about.

It’s a prime example though of the reason why we ask clients to keep us up to date on their personal circumstances, so we can include any new entitlements in our calculations!