The P87 form: how to claim tax relief on work expenses

Form P87 is how an employee claims Income Tax relief on job expenses their employer did not pay back: business mileage paid below HMRC's rate, professional subscriptions, uniform cleaning, work hotels and meals. You can use it if your allowable expenses are £2,500 or less for the tax year, you paid tax that year, and you do not fill in a Self Assessment return. You can claim for the current tax year and the four before it, online or on the paper P87, and since October 2024 most claims need evidence sent with them.

That is the short version. The rest is the detail that decides whether HMRC pays up.

What a P87 actually gets you

The first thing to know is that a P87 does not refund what you spent. It gives you relief on it, at the rate you pay tax. GOV.UK's own example: claim £60 at the 20% rate and you are entitled to £12.

You must also have paid tax in the year you are claiming for, and the relief cannot be more than the tax you paid. If the claim is for the current year, HMRC usually adjusts your tax code so you pay less as you go. For earlier years it either adjusts your code or sends a refund.

So if your employer will repay an expense, take the money. Full repayment beats 20% of it every time.

Who can use form P87

The general test, from GOV.UK, is that you used your own money for something you must buy for your job, and you use it only for work. On top of that, a P87 is for you if:

• you are an employee, paying tax through PAYE
• your expenses come to £2,500 or less for the tax year
• you do not file a Self Assessment return

Over £2,500, or if you already file a return, the claim goes on your Self Assessment return instead. HMRC will not take it on a P87.

You cannot claim for anything your employer paid back in full, or for something you bought instead of what they offered (GOV.UK's example: turning down the work laptop because you wanted a different model). Where they paid part of the cost, you claim on the rest.

What you can claim on a P87

The form has a section for each kind of expense. Here is what goes where, and what HMRC wants to see with it.

Mileage is often the biggest line. For 2026/27, HMRC's approved rate for your own car or van is 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles, then 25p; before 6 April 2026 it was 45p. Say your employer pays 35p and you drive 4,000 business miles this tax year. The approved amount is £2,200, you were paid £1,400, so you claim relief on £800: worth £160 at the 20% rate. Commuting to your normal workplace does not count, but travel to a temporary workplace can. The full rate table is in our guide to HMRC mileage rates for 2026/27, and company-car drivers will want advisory fuel rates for company cars.

Uniforms are the claim most people have heard of. You can claim for cleaning, repairing or replacing a uniform or specialist clothing such as overalls or safety boots, and for repairing or replacing small tools. You cannot claim for buying work clothes in the first place, for everyday clothes you happen to wear to work, or for PPE, which your employer should provide or repay. Many jobs have an agreed flat rate, which you can claim without sending receipts.

The evidence HMRC now wants

Since 14 October 2024, HMRC has asked for evidence before it processes a PAYE expenses claim, having found a growing problem with ineligible ones.

For mileage, the log must show the reason for every journey and the postcodes where each journey started and ended, with a separate log for each employment. "Visit" is not a reason. "Boiler service, 12 Elm Road, Derby" is.

You also have to say which employment each expense was for, and whether your employer repaid any of it, with evidence of how much. Only the flat-rate uniform and tools claim comes without paperwork, though HMRC still checks that people are entitled to it. If you are catching up on old years, how long to keep receipts for HMRC covers what counts as a usable record.

How to claim: online or by post

Online. Since 23 December 2024, HMRC's online claim form lets you send the claim and the evidence together. It is the route GOV.UK points to, and nothing gets lost in the post.

By post. You must use HMRC's own form P87; GOV.UK says it rejects postal claims that do not. The current edition is marked HMRC 06/26. Download it, open it in Adobe Reader rather than your browser, fill it in on screen or by hand, then sign and date it. Unsigned forms, and forms missing a mandatory field, are rejected. Send it with your evidence to Pay As You Earn and Self Assessment, HM Revenue and Customs, BX9 1AS, and keep a copy.

One form can cover several tax years and several jobs, with a column for each year. You will need your National Insurance number and each employer's PAYE reference, which is on your P60 or P45 or in your personal tax account.

If a company offers to claim for you for a fee, read the small print first. HMRC's "Don't Get Caught Out" campaign warns about ineligible refund claims made through some repayment agents, and it is your tax affairs the claim is made on.

How far back can you claim?

You have four years from the end of the tax year to claim. Today that means 2022/23 through to 2026/27. The 2022/23 year closes on 5 April 2027, so if you drove for work or paid professional fees in 2022/23 and never claimed, you have until then.

Frequently asked questions

Can I fill in a P87 online?

Yes. HMRC's online claim form takes the claim and your evidence together. The paper P87 is still accepted by post.

How long does a P87 take to process?

GOV.UK's P87 pages do not give a fixed time. HMRC's "check when you can expect a reply" tool covers Income Tax and is updated weekly. Missing evidence is the surest way to wait longer, because HMRC checks it before the claim moves.

Do I need to send receipts with a P87?

Usually, yes: receipts for subscriptions, hotels, meals and other costs, and a mileage log for mileage. The exception is a flat-rate claim for uniform, work clothing and tools.

What if my expenses are over £2,500?

A year over £2,500 goes on a Self Assessment return, not a P87, so you will need to register for Self Assessment if you have not already.

Can I claim working from home on a P87?

Not for 2026/27. For the four years before it you can, if you had to work from home rather than chose to, with evidence such as your employment contract.

How ClaimSnappy prepares a P87

We built ClaimSnappy so the records HMRC asks for are kept as you go, not reconstructed the night before a deadline. Every journey is saved with its date, reason, miles and start and end postcodes, and a trip cannot be saved without a reason. Every receipt keeps its photo.

If you claim from an employer, the Reports page on the website has Prepare P87. It fills in HMRC's own P87, the 06/26 edition, for what your employer did not pay back, for up to five tax years at a time. The mileage box uses what your employer actually paid on claims marked paid, so nothing is claimed twice. The form comes back editable and unsigned, because signing it is yours to do. Download form and evidence gives you a zip with the form, a mileage log for each tax year, a list of the receipts claimed, the receipt images and a READ ME saying what to send, how and by when.

Lines HMRC would query are flagged first, such as a journey with no postcode or a line too old for tax relief. Working from home after 6 April 2026 is left off, and a year over £2,500 is pointed to Self Assessment, with the dates. On a team desk, a manager can prepare each person's P87 from People, and an accountant using the free accountant portal can download P87 forms for their clients at year end.

You can try it on a 30-day trial with no card; after that, Solo is £5 a month. See how it works if you claim for yourself, or compare plans.

ClaimSnappy prepares the form and keeps the evidence. Whether an expense qualifies is for you and HMRC to settle, and if your situation is complicated, an accountant is cheaper than a rejected claim.