Sport Professionals Tax Rebate

If you are a semi-professional or professional sports person you could be entitled to a sizeable tax refund. Use our tax rebate guide to discover what you’re owed as a sporting professional for your work expenses.

Even though your average working day is utterly different to most taxpayers, there are many legitimate tax reliefs and allowances that cover your work expenses that are not usually reimbursed by your club.

What expenses can I include in my Sports Professionals tax rebate claim?

• Buying training kit
• Buying uniform
• Buying specialist equipment and clothing, such as footballers’ shin pads and football boots
• Washing your kit at home
• Driving your own car to training sessions
• Travelling to away games and reserve games in your own vehicle
• Accommodation and food (HMRC call this “subsistence”) when you are travelling away from home
• If you are on loan, travel to home matches
• Making any medical trips, such as to the physiotherapist, in your own vehicle
• Subscriptions and memberships to professional bodies  and Trade Unions (such as the Football Association Coaches Association and the British Gymnastics Association)

A lot of this list applies to me, what does this mean?

This means that you have paid HMRC too much tax and they need you to help them return this money by filling in a tax rebate claim. The Tax Office wants to repay your overspend, but cannot automatically refund it to your bank account you have to put in an official claim.

Do I have to fill in a lot of complicated paperwork?

Yes, making an accurate tax rebate claim requires time, effort and patience that most people don’t have. But you don’t have to do it all yourself, in fact most people consider it wise to get help from a tax expert – that’s where we come in. It’s normal for a tax return to be needed for all or some of the years of your claim which we take care of as part of your claim.

What records should I keep to claim my tax back?

Basically, keep all relevant receipts and a travel log of the work journeys you made in your own vehicle.

Can I only claim for this year’s expenses?

No! If you’ve never made a Sports person’s tax rebate claim before, then it can be backdated for four years.

HMRC’s regulations and processes are daunting but, as they say, ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’.

How do I make a claim for a sports coach tax rebate?

A claim for your expenses as a sports coach can be made on a P87 form online if your total expenses have a value of less than £2500. For claims that have a value of £2500 or more in any one tax year a self assessment tax return will normally be needed which can be submitted online as well.