Claiming last four years of medical subscriptions

Will he have to write in to HMRC ?

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A potential client who is a doctor completes his own tax returns (until now) but has forgot to claim last four years of medical subscriptions

Can he update his most tax return i.e 2019/20 for the medical subscriptions or does he need to write in to HMRC. The total tax saving for four years is around £1000

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By Paul Crowley
18th Jan 2021 23:57

Sounds like four tax returns to be amended

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By Tax Dragon
19th Jan 2021 06:01

Agree Paul (in sentiment anyway). Relief is due in the year of payment. Payments in 2016/17 do not relate to 19/20 or 20/21.

You're too late to amend some of the returns though, so you'll need to find out about overpayment relief.

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By Matrix
19th Jan 2021 07:05

Why can’t he amend 2018-19 and 2019-20?

I would imagine he isn’t really out of pocket if he has saved on accounting fees all these years. That is the risk of the DIY approach, you may miss out on tax savings.

Did you spot the claim? What work are you quoting for? By the time they have paid you there won’t be loads left over.

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By fawltybasil2575
19th Jan 2021 10:14

@ sanjay100 (OP).

(i) 2018/19 and 2019/20 Tax Returns. Formal amendments for both these years' Tax Returns are “in time” (until 31 January 2021 in the case of the 201819 Tax Return).

(ii) 2016/17 and 2017/18. It is too late to submit amended Tax Returns for these two years, and hence one has to submit Overpayment Relief claims. Please refer to this link:-

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/self-assessment-claims-manual/s...

It is perfectly in order to submit an Overpayment Relief claim by letter (signed by the client) ensuring that you follow (“to the letter”) the instructions on SACM12150.

From my experience, if the “doctor” (per your question) is a general medical practitioner, then the “subscriptions” would normally (unless perhaps they are part-time) be relatively high, such that I would have expected the reduction in Income Tax to be materially in excess of the £1,000 figure to which you refer.

Basil.

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Replying to fawltybasil2575:
By SteveHa
19th Jan 2021 10:56

fawltybasil2575 wrote:

From my experience, if the “doctor” (per your question) is a general medical practitioner, then the “subscriptions” would normally (unless perhaps they are part-time) be relatively high, such that I would have expected the reduction in Income Tax to be materially in excess of the £1,000 figure to which you refer.

Basil.

That depends. If a GP in practice, typically a partnership, it's also possible that the practice has paid and already claimed a deduction in the accounts. Worth checking first.

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Replying to SteveHa:
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By fawltybasil2575
19th Jan 2021 11:55

@ SteveHa.

I took at face value the OP's comment that the client" FORGOT TO CLAIM (my emphasis) last four years of medical subscriptions". I would surmise (albeit the OP will no doubt confirm whether such be the case) that the client is actually an employee, or (much less likely) a sole practitioner GP.

From my experience, Partnership Agreements for General Practitioner Partnerships include clauses which require the individual partners to pay the costs of their "Subscriptions": as mentioned above, however, I would consider it unlikely that the client is a partner in a GP Partnership.

You are nonetheless correct in pointing out that the client should be asked to confirm that the Subscriptions have not been paid by a Partnership of which they are a Partner (or indeed paid by the Employer, if they are an Employee).

Basil.

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By sanjay100
23rd Jan 2021 23:16

Thank you all for the replies. Silly me I did a overpayment relief letter a few years back but forgot as my brain is on overdrive with the volume of work.

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