On completion of the employment section of an HMRC self assessment tax return, adding £120 as a flat rate deduction increases the tax liabilty when 'view calculation' is selected. This figure represents the average annual cost of repair and maintenance of tools or special clothing. In this case, it relates to an engineer in the heating industry. Isn't the whole point of claiming this allowance to reduce an income tax liability?
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I recently had a new client who had previously been filing themselves and had been putting their fixed deductions into box 16 instead of box 18 for the last couple of years. I haven't used the HMRC software in a while so I can't be sure why they were doing this but is there perhaps some poor labelling of the fields and the figure is being included as an expenses payment instead of a deduction?
As a user of HMRC software until a couple of years ago, I can say I never had this problem. The fields are labelled as on the tax return and are clear enough.
However, I suspect that the OP has confused "Expenses Allowances" with "Fixed Deductions for Expenses".
If he'd like to provide us with more information ......