Loughborough UCU

Tag: Tax Relief

  • Reduce Your UCU Subscription Cost by Claiming Tax Relief

    As we’ve entered a new tax year, it’s a great time to remind UCU members that you may be able to reduce the cost of your union subscription by claiming tax relief from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

    How does it work?

    UCU is an HMRC‑approved professional body. This means eligible members can claim income tax relief on up to 67% of their annual UCU subscription, at the tax rate that applies to their earnings.

    How much could you claim back?

    The exact amount depends on how much you earn, your UCU subscription rate & whether you pay basic or higher‑rate tax.

    As an example:

    • A basic‑rate taxpayer could typically reclaim 20% of 67% (13.4%) of your annual subscription
    • A higher‑rate taxpayer could reclaim 40% of 67% (26.8%) of your annual subscription

    Even modest claims can add up, especially if you’re claiming for multiple years.

    You can backdate your claim

    You don’t just have to claim for the current tax year. HMRC allows you to claim for up to four previous tax years, as long as you were a UCU member during that time and haven’t already claimed.

    How do you claim?

    You can claim tax relief in whichever way suits you best:

    • Online, via your Government Gateway account
    • By post, using HMRC’s form
    • By phone, by contacting HMRC directly

    When completing your claim, UCU subscriptions should be listed under “professional fees and subscriptions”.

    All the guidance you need, including what figures to use and how to submit your claim, is available on the national UCU website here.

    Don’t leave it unclaimed

    Claiming tax relief on your UCU membership is straightforward, legitimate, and could save you money every year. With the new tax year now underway, it’s an ideal moment to make sure you’re not missing out.

  • Reduce Your UCU Subscription Cost by Claiming Tax Relief

    It’s that time of year again so here is your reminder that UCU members can claim tax relief on up to 67% of their total annual subscription, at the tax rate applicable to their earnings. You can claim this tax relief online, by post or via telephone. You have up to four years to claim for each tax year. All the information you require to make a claim is available on the UCU website, here.

  • Reduce Your UCU Subscription Cost by Claiming Tax Relief

    Following approval from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), UCU members can claim tax relief on up to 67% of their total annual subscription, at the tax rate applicable to their earnings. You can claim this tax relief online, by post or via telephone. You have up to four years to claim for each tax year. All the information you require to make a claim is available on the UCU website, here.

  • Higher education disputes: updating contact details on MyUCU

    Plans are underway to hold the biggest ever aggregated ballots of the entire higher education sector regarding the pay and working conditions dispute (Four Fights) and USS pensions. The industrial action ballot will run during the autumn and UCU will be communicating with HE branches and members regularly over the next weeks. UCU will be in a position to share campaign details and timelines in the very near future.

    Keeping clean data is vital to our success. Therefore, we are asking all our members to please check your details by logging onto MyUCU. Please make sure that the following details are correct/up to date:

    • Preferred postal address (where you will receive the industrial action ballot)
    • Preferred email address (where you will receive UCU’s emails including local branch emails and the Friday Email)
    • Mobile phone number (where we have current mobile phone numbers for members, this will greatly assist in ‘get the vote out’ (GTVO) efforts involving ThruText, the peer-to-peer SMS texting platform.)
    • Employer and workplace
    • Membership category (N.B. certain membership types such as retired members and student members are not included in industrial action ballots; members can also upgrade their membership on MyUCU if necessary)
    • Employment income band

    Are you retiring this summer, leaving LU or taking parental leave?

    If you will be retiring over the summer, these are the options with regard to your UCU membership.

    If you are leaving LU and will be unemployed for any time, see here for more details on the ‘attached unemployed’ membership.

    Members who are currently on parental leave can use MyUCU to inform the union. Members who are on parental leave/extended absence will be excluded from industrial action ballots for the duration of the leave. For more details please see here.

    Issues logging on to MyUCU

    If you encounter difficulties logging into MyUCU, this is very often because you have not registered to use MyUCU yet. You can register for MyUCU here. If you have already registered and still can’t log in please get in touch with the branch and we will assist you in resolving the issue.

    Tax Relief on UCU Membership Subscriptions

    We also want to take this opportunity to remind you that you can claim income tax relief on your UCU subscription. For more information on claiming tax relief please see here.

    LUCU Committee