In this Moneywise Doctor webinar, the host (Speaker A) explains how UK self‑assessment can be used to claim pension tax relief and professional expense relief, especially for NHS staff. The discussion covers: (1) why self‑assessment is preferred over phone calls with HMRC; (2) how any pension contribution – even a £1 NHS defined‑benefit contribution – creates a personal allowance that can be carried forward and claimed via a SIP, personal, stakeholder or NEST pension up to the £60k annual limit; (3) the rules for higher‑rate (20% extra) tax relief on pension contributions and that the process has not changed; (4) the income thresholds and situations that trigger a mandatory self‑assessment (income >£150k, partnership, limited‑company directorship, capital gains, rental income, pension contributions, etc.); (5) how to claim tax relief on professional expenses such as GMC registration, Royal College fees, equipment, mileage, and that claims above £2,500 must be made through self‑assessment, with the possibility of retrospective claims for up to five previous years; (6) practical steps – writing letters, using online forms, and accessing a step‑by‑step video guide shared in the chat. The host also promotes the free Moneywise Doctor Weekly newsletter for ongoing tax and finance tips for medical professionals.
Chapters
So self assessment is basically HMRC's way of getting it to tell them other sources of income that they haven't seen so that it can be taxed on it. But we do self assessment to include other expenses. We made things that we can actually get. So as long as someone has contributed to a pension, any pension, whether it was the NHS pension in your workplace, there has been a pension contribution. I don't have the time, I can't spare 30 minutes to get on the phone with HMI. I'm really sorry, but I don't want to give 30 minutes of my time, so I prefer to do self assessment. Why? Because self assessment is a document. They have a copy, I have a copy, Myala has a copy. Basically, there are specific things you can claim. There are things that you can claim above £2,500 per tax. Here, they'll say, no, no, no, go and do self assessment. I think you have a question. Do you want to go? Yeah, please go.
Yes, thank you. Can you hear me?
I can hear you clearly.
I'm just taking up from. From the last thing, the person that asked the question. So if in the previous tax year, one didn't make a personal contribution, maybe you just only made your NHS regular contribution that's taken from source. Can you still claim, carry forward the balance into.
Yeah, I'm happy, I'm happy to inform you that you can. And don't be like me. So last time I held a side job was 2022, I think there was a year that I didn't think about it, I was just busy. So I didn't put a dime into a pension. And because I wasn't employed anywhere by anyone, nobody put in a dime into my pension. So for that whole tax year I didn't make a contribution. And when I cleared out some money the next tax year, I wanted to put it back, they said, no, you didn't contribute to any pension in that tax year, so nothing. You can't get the allowance. That was annoying. But I had other, other ways to be tax efficient. But in your case, you're working with the nhs, so someone has definitely put money into the pension, so you've contributed, even if you contribute £1. So if you're not sure of SIP, open it and put in £100. So as long as someone has contributed to a pension, any pension, whether it was the NHS pension in your workplace, which is a defined benefit pension different from defined contribution, if your NHS pension, there has been a pension contribution, you should be able to claim the remaining allowance that hasn't been used. Even if that means claiming it through putting money in the sip or through your personal pension or stakeholder pension or nest pension. As long as the pension, it all goes towards the 60k allowance. Does that make sense?
Okay, it makes sense. One last question, of course, about the extra 25% higher taxpayer return.
20%? Yeah.
Yes, 20. So must it be through a self assessment? The only time I've. There was a time I called you from RSC and they told me to write a letter and.
Yeah.
Attach evidence of my country. Yeah. Yes. And then they'll pay you money. Yeah. So must it always be through?
No, it must always be true. Did they pay? They paid.
The rules have changed. They did pay me, but I'm just wondering if the rules have changed.
The rules hasn't changed. So here's the thing. I know you're a doctor and you're a busy doctor. I can't remember your specialty. Pamela. I know you're Pamela too. Right. What's your specialty?
Pediatrics.
Yeah. Pediatrician. So busy I don't have the time. I can't spare 30 minutes to get on the phone with HMI. I'm really sorry, but I don't want to give 30 minutes of my time. So I prefer to do self assessment. Why? Because self assessment is a document. They have a copy, I have a copy, my accountant has a copy. Basically, so I can then claim whatever else inside the self assessment.
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You can call them to tell them, I've paid this money. Can you pay me back or give me my tax relief? You can write them a letter. You can do all that. But I kind of like prefer self assessment for all that stuff because then is is an official document. Is. Yes, it's harder to lose. It's harder to, you know, tell stories around it. But yes, if you prefer to call them, that's still all right. Yeah. So what did you do with the money, the one they gave you? Because that. Did you put it back into your pension?
Did I paid it directly into my pension.
Oh, is that what they did? Okay, good. Okay, that's fine then. Excellent. That's. That's lovely. Right, okay. So that's what happened. The extra 20, they can pay that into your pension. Okay, lovely. You didn't get it. Okay, well, your future self has gotten it. Okay, I'm going to take the next question, please.
Yeah, So I, the higher taxpayer, to my understanding, somebody is earning 50k plus of the adjusted net income, would that be correct? And if the person does not have a limited company, just does regular initials work, would you advise the person to also do a self assessment as well?
Okay, that's a very important question. Thank you for raising it. Again, your questions actually guide where these things go. I meant by, I mean all of you. It takes us back to what are the tax bands? And if you are from Scotland, yours is slightly different, but basically tax band 0 to 12, 57 to 0%. 12, 571 to 50, 270 is 20. Okay, that's the band they're talking about today. Then from 50, 271 to. I think they raise it to 150k. It used to be 125k. That is the. Sorry. So from. Yeah, from 50,271 to 150k thereabout is now higher rate tax. That's 40%. Okay. Anything above that? Anything above like 50, 271 is 40. Of course we know about the 60 tax job that they never advertise on their website because it's basically across 100k you start paying more. So what your question is, if I understand it correctly, is that if you're just working a normal salary job, being paid fair 50k, not nothing above 50k. Not 50,000, 350,000.
No, maybe above that. So you are still within that 40% tax.
Give me, give me a figure.
Are we talking, let's say somebody's receiving maybe 75K.
Yeah. So if you're 75K, you're quite deep into the 40% tax plan. Isn't, sorry, the higher rate tax pay, but bam. So do you need to do self assessment? Not all the time. There's a criteria for doing self assessment. I'll share it in the group. Or there are criteria for doing self assessment. I'll Share it in the group or you can just browse self assessment. Money wise doctor. The article will come up. Maybe if you, if you did here from my team, he could share that for us. A self assessment, money wise doctor. I'll pop it in the group, but I'm just going to run through the criteria very quickly. One, you've got like income above 150k, you've got to do self assessment. Okay. If you're involved in any partnership, let's say a GP partner, you've got like a business partnership self assessment, you gain, you have income through capital gains, you sell a property or you sell, let's say your shares self or Bitcoin or whatever. Self assessment. You have a business, you run a limited company, a director of a company, you've got to do self assessment. If you've contributed money to your pension, basically, obviously it makes sense to also do self assessment. So self assessment is basically HMRC's way of getting you to tell them other sources of income that they haven't seen doesn't pass through payroll so that it can be taxed on it. That's what HMRC does self assessment for. But we do self assessment to include other expenses we've made things that we can actually get back from the money we've paid. So yeah, you don't necessarily have to do self assessment all the time for everyone. But if you're making like sort of like investment, you're getting capital gains. I'll give you an example. Like if you've got like rental property, you need to do self assessment because you need to. HMRC doesn't know which money you're getting. You have to tell them I got this money and pay tax on it. So share the link, you can have a read. I've listed who needs to do self assessment. I can go through it. Okay, right. So I'm going to take one more question and then we'll go into the rest of the structures.
Okay, so are you saying based on the question that the last person asked, so if you are within, if you are below 150 or 100,000, so you don't need to do self assessment. But what about tax return? So is it tax return you do?
So tax return and self assessment, just consider them, have the same thing now remove the confusion. So there are two things I think you might be talking about. Tax relief on professional expenses. Yes, I'll explain to you. So if you've spent money to register for gmc, you spend money to pay for your gdc, your dental Council dentistry. Right, yeah. You've done gdc, if you're a nurse, you've done nmc, you've done. Then you've done Royal Colleges, you've done BMA and all that stuff. You can claim it back. Those are professional expenses, mileage, basically, business mileage. You're going to work, but they've seconded you to work elsewhere. You can, you can claim those back. Okay, but there are different ways to claim it. You can claim it in what we call tax relief. You fill out a form, there's an online version. We don't have the time to get into it now because I've made a step by step video which I'll also share with you, that you can just watch. Thousands of doctors, I've used it, doctors and healthcare professionals, NHS staff, just click it, you watch it, you do exactly that thing. You fill out the form. I hm, will pay you. Or they might not send you a check. When I first started doing this, they used to send the check for me many, many years ago. Now they'll just reflect it in your tax account. Okay, right, so basically that's tax relief on professional expenses. It's very structured, it's very restricted. There are specific things you can claim. There are things that you can claim above £2,500 per tax here. They'll say, no, no, no, go and do self assessment. So if what you're claiming is 2, 5 in 20, 22, 20, 23, and then next is 25, next is to 5, you claim up to 10K. I've had doctors who claim like 95, 96 and all that because they hadn't claimed for years. But I also know this, she's a consultant now. I hope she, I know she won't mind me saying she's brilliant. Born in the UK, lived in the UK, been in the NHS for 15 years, never claimed I should leave, never knew about it. Husband is a brilliant accountant working with top companies and she said to me, God, my husband should have told me. I'm like, he's probably didn't even know about it because he's dealing with something else that's much bigger. So in that case, she was able to claim back five years at the goal, so the current year and then four years back. So that could get to as much as 12,5. Basically your professional expense is what you've, you've spent on. You can only claim what you spent on, but in some years you spend more than 2, 5. You've paid for GMC. If paid for BMA, you've also CCT'd in the same year. You've also bought a new equipment or you've replaced your stethoscope or some dental equipment to use, maybe a drill. I don't know. Dental equipment. But basically you can, you can claim the money you spent on replacing equipment. Okay. Okay. So when you count it, it's above 2 5. HMR says no. What? Most people do that. They just bring it down to 2 5. I'm like, why so because they don't want to go through the trouble of doing self assessment. I'm like, well, if we've got like 3k to. So you're giving them back 500 that like you're tipping them. Very generous. I rather get it through self assessment.
All right, so sorry, I would like to have the video like you said. So I'll follow it step by step
so I can claim up to. Up to.
I can claim. Claim it in retrospect.
Right.
For the years I've not claimed.
You can do. It's on the link. It's on the chat group. All right, thank you very much. Yeah.
My second question is.
Yes.
Yeah, thank you very much. So that. That clarifies the.
