Instant doctors tax rebate calculator

The rebate calculator is designed to give you an estimate and your final tax rebate may be more or less than the figure suggested by the rebate calculator.

There are many reasons why the tax rebate received may be different to the figure provided by the rebate calculator. These reasons include, among others:

– NHS payroll departments do not always deduct the correct amount of tax each tax year. If too little tax has been deducted previously, this will reduce the amount of rebate due. But sometimes too much tax has been deducted, especially if your payroll department has applied the wrong tax code to your salary.

– The tax rate entered into the tax rebate calculator may not be the correct marginal tax rate that your employment income is taxed at e.g. in certain tax years your income may be taxed at 20% rather than 40% especially if your claim includes years in which you were an FY1 or FY2, on maternity leave or taking time out of employment.

– Reducing your employment income by your professional expenses may bring your income from the 40% tax rate into the 20% tax bracket reducing the amount of rebate due.

– The calculator does not take into account any other sources of income which you may have and these can affect the amount of any tax rebate due. Note that only rates that apply to employment income are included in the calculator.

HM Revenue and Customs allow tax relief on professional expenses that we as Doctors have to pay in order to do our jobs. For example, if you pay £425 to the General Medical Council, every year you are entitled to tax relief on this amount (usually at 40% of the amount paid). So for example for £425 of GMC fees you would be due a refund of £170 per year (40% of £425). If you haven’t claimed before you can backdate the claim for the previous 4 tax years. (£680) If you also pay money to e.g. Royal College General Practitioners, MDU, British Medical Association or a host of other Royal Colleges and societies you could be owed thousands of pounds in overpaid tax. You may also be entitled to claim a tax rebate on examination expenses such as MRCP, MRCGP, MRCS, FRCA, etc.

Our guide gives you guidance on what you can claim but in general a doctor on a training contract can usually claim GMC, BMA, Royal college, indemnity and examination expenses including in some circumstances travel to and from the exam and accommodation expenses. We’re often asked if there’s a definitive list – there isn’t as such, but HMRC does have a list of professional bodies approved for tax relief which is accessible here HMRC List 3.

However List 3 isn’t very intuitive to search. For example the GMC appears in the M section as “Medical Council General”. Similarly, the BMA appears in the M section as “Medical Association British”. This makes it tricky to use, but our free guides give you speciality specific guidance on what you can claim to make things easier.

It’s important to realise that what you can claim depends on your employment status and if you are self employed or working via a Limited company we would STRONGLY advise you to use an accountant.