There was a segment on BBC Breakfast  the other day about claiming tax relief for the cost of cleaning your work wear. It seems that the work wear must be marked with some form of logo relating to the work you do. The implication of this is that you would not wear the garment outside work and the logo is the criteria by which they judge this!

Having looked at the relevant rules at HMRC it appears that you do not need to fill in an annual tax return to claim this benefit. For example a nurse working for the NHS could claim for tax relief by submitting a letter detailing expenses going back up to five years. This would have to be submitted by 31 March 2012 for tax year ended 5 April 2007.

The amounts involved will not be huge but the fact you can back date the workwear cleaning relief 5 years makes it a worthwhile effort for the cost of a stamp. You can obtain full details at HMRC.