Tax deductable PPE...

The rules for this sort of thing can be complex, although the underlyng principle is that they should be of a nature that they are only going to be used for your job. I suspect these qualify, but you need to check the HMRC site.

You can get the income tax back on them through PAYE. You need to ask HMRC for a tax return for the year in which you bought them, presumably

2010-11, so you need to do this around April. If allowable, these items will go under expenses, on the employment page.

You will not get back the non-tax part of the cost.

If you are not already filling in a tax return, you may find it more hassle to do so than to forego the tax refund.

Actually, for under £1000, you can just write a letter to HMRC:

This is the specific page on protective clothing:

The non tax part of the cost? Aren't items like safety boots VAT free anyway?

He means that you won't get back that percentage of the cost that you didn't pay as income tax.

If you have 100 pounds of expenses which you claim back on you tax return you will get 20/40% of that back depending upon your tax band

tim

So - just to confirm - an employer says you have to buy your own safety boots for the job and you can't claim back the whole cost? Told now that I'll need to get the more expensive plastic/composite toecap ones as we are constantly passing through metal detectors/security checkpoints and steel ones will be no good.

Will not be self employed, it is through an agency providing the contract for a third party company.

Nope!.

Doesn't matter. If your employer wont pay the end result to you wrt to tax is the same regardless of how you work.

If you don't like that your complaint is with the employer, not the taxman

tim