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Many employees are required to pay professional fees or subscriptions to trade bodies or institutes in order to carry out their jobs. An example of this might be solicitors who must pay for an annual practising certificate from the Solicitors Regulation Authority in order to practise.

In other cases, the professional fee or subscription may not be essential to the practice of the job, but may relate to the job. An example of this might be payment of subscription fees to the various accounting and tax professional bodies. Whilst you can still practise as a tax adviser or accountant without membership of such bodies, the subscription relates to the duties performed in the employment.

Many employers pay these fees on behalf of their employees. This is a taxable benefit, but they may be able to claim a deduction from their employment income depending on the circumstances (see below). If a deduction would be available to the employee, then the employer’s payment of the fee or subscription comes within the exemption for expenses which would otherwise be