Martin Lewis reveals 5 ways to claim back £1,000s ‘in five minutes’

MARTIN Lewis has revealed five ways to claim back thousands of pounds in a matter of minutes.

There are a range of tax reliefs and refunds available if you are married, working from home, a graduate or wear a uniform for your job.

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The money guru shared the tips in the latest MoneySavingExpert newsletter.

There is no need for an expensive financial adviser as these perks can be claimed by just completing a few simple forms.

Martin reckons they only take five minutes to fill – and you could get thousands of pounds back.

“Christmas is nearing, purse strings are tightening, and people are busy. Many are searching for extra cash,” he said.

“So I’ve put together five easy ways you could be due money back at speed. There’s no need to pay anyone, most are just filling in online forms.”

Here’s how you can claim back cash ahead of Christmas:

Reduce your tax bill by working from home – claim up to £124

Remote working has become more common during the pandemic and you can claim money off your tax bill for all those extra household costs such as your energy bills.

If your boss requires you to work at home you can get tax relief worth £6 a week.

HMRC said you can apply for the whole year even if you have only worked one day at home during this tax year since April 6 2020.

The taxman is treating the pandemic as a special case as it saves the administration of dealing with multiple claims.

Mr Lewis said basic rate taxpayers will get a gain of £62 for the year and higher rate taxpayers will get £124.

More than one million people have already taken advantage of this and you can apply via the HMRC website to get your tax bill reduced.

Claim for the marriage tax allowance – claim up to £1,188

If a husband or wife doesn’t earn enough to pay tax they can boost their spouse’s allowance so they pay less to the taxman using the marriage allowance.

For example, if you earn below the tax threshold, currently £12,500, you can transfer £1,250 of your allowance to your husband or wife.

This then boosts the amount they can earn tax-free by giving them an extra £1,250.

The extra money isn’t taxed so saves the higher earning spouse £250.

This is reflected in your tax bill for the current year but can also be backdated to 5 April 2016 in cash.

Claiming for each of the past four years would give you £1,188 back in total.

Reclaim power of attorney fees – claim up to £54

If you have recently taken control of a loved one’s financial or health affairs by arranging a power of attorney you could be in line for a refund.

Mr Lewis said 1.3million people are still owed refunds since the fee to register a power of attorney with the ministry of justice was reduced from £110 to £82 in 2017 to reflect the true underlying costs.

You can claim back up to £54 online for power of attorneys registered since April 2013 even if the person has passed away.

Act fast though as the deadline is January 31 2021.

Check when you started repaying your student loan – claim up to £1,000

Graduates only have to start repaying their student loan from the April after they leave university if they earn above the relevant income thresholds.

In most cases this should give you nine months before you need to repay if you are required to.

But more than 100,000 employees are believed to be incorrectly repaying the loans too early.

Graduates have got back thousands of pounds in some cases.

Remember you will have to repay it all back at some point though so if you can afford to it could be best to just carry on making the payments.

You can check and claim for overpayments by contacting the Student Loans Company on 0300 100 0611.

Claim for your work uniform – claim up to £60

You can get money back through a tax rebate if you are required to wear, maintain and clean a uniform for work.

HMRC has a list of occupations that can get the money off their tax bill.

For example, a nurse could get £125, a policeman £140 and a pilot could get as much as £1,022.

You can make a claim for £60 if your industry or occupation isn’t on the list.

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This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk