Self-Funded Work-Related Training

The government had previously announced that it would consult on extending the scope of tax relief currently available to employees and the self-employed for work-related training costs. A call for evidence consultation has now been issued. Under current rules:

• an employee only receives tax relief on self-funded training if it is both ‘wholly exclusively and necessarily’ and an intrinsic contractual duty of their existing employment and

• a self-employed person can only deduct training costs incurred wholly and exclusively for their business where it maintains or updates existing skills.

The purpose of the consultation is to gain an understanding as to how an extension to the existing tax relief can be designed to upskill or retrain those who want or need to change their career. This will include taking into account lessons from previous initiatives and ensuring that tax relief on work-related training is not obtained on recreational activities.