Well it's getting close to that time of year for us in the UK to enter a New Financial year. Yes April is fast approaching and i thought now was as good a time as ever to remind you about checking your P60.

Last year 2007 / 2008 friend of mine reclaimed tax he had paid in the 2002/2003 period. I asked him how and i was amazed at the simplicity of it all.

Here's how........

Everyone who pays tax gets a P60 at the end of the financial tax year outlining their income and tax paid for that year. I for some reason seem to have every P60 since i started work ( sad i know ) and thus began my search.

I came across the following website of which i have no connection with but find it a very useful tool to use, CLICK HERE On the left hand side you will see three boxes for you to enter the details directly from your P60. When you click the calculate button, making sure it's the correct year you will be informed as to whether you are entitled to a refund. Here's the bit you need to be careful with though, it will then ask you to fill in your details as they will claim on your behalf but they don't do it for nothing, they take a cut of your repayment so do the following.

How do i claim it back then ?

Easy, simply print off the details and ring the following phone number 08459 000 444 this number is to the Inland Revenue and they will be able to confirm if the refund details are correct. Ask them for your Tax Office where you can send them a brief letter explaining you are reclaiming a refund and also enclose your original P60, you will get this back. Last year i claimed a Grand total of £1250.50 for 2003/04 and £369.53 for 2006/07 as i was on the wrong codes. I contacted the Tax Office and they confirmed that the figures were correct and 4 weeks later i received a lovely cheque back from the treasury.

On another note you can claim back a laundry allowance for your work wear provided the company logo is emblazoned somewhere upon the garment. I successfully managed to claim this back after sending a letter confirming the company details of where i was employed to my local tax office. At the time of writing the allowance is currently at £45 per year but you can claim for the last 6 years worth, please check with your company that the allowance has not already been applied to your tax code.

For a " Beginners Guide to Tax " visit the Governments website Here www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/BeginnersGuideToTax/index.htm?cids=Google_PPC&cre=Money

As ever, this post will be added to the MoneySavingExtreme website forum for open discussion.