Professional subscriptions tax relief, and HMRC List 3

01/ Who can claim

Two kinds of payment qualify; four do not.

The rule is in two sections of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, and GOV.UK puts it in plain terms.

You can claim on professional membership fees you must pay to do your job, and on annual subscriptions to approved professional bodies or learned societies where membership is relevant to your job (GOV.UK).

The fees are listed in section 343: for example entry or retention on the medical, nursing and midwifery, dental and Health and Care Professions Council registers, a solicitor’s practising certificate, and the Register of Architects. The subscriptions are those paid to bodies HMRC has approved under section 344, which is what List 3 records.

02/ How to claim

Claim online, with receipts, for up to five tax years.

You can claim for the current tax year and the 4 previous tax years, and you must send copies of receipts or other evidence of what you paid (GOV.UK). If you complete a Self Assessment tax return, you claim on the return instead.

Relief is given at the rate of tax you pay, and cannot be more than the tax you paid that year. GOV.UK’s example: claim £60 while paying tax at 20% and the relief is £12 (GOV.UK). A claim for the current year usually changes your tax code; earlier years are paid through your code or as a refund.

03/ HMRC List 3

List 3 is HMRC’s list of approved bodies.

List 3 is HMRC’s list of approved professional organisations and learned societies. It was last updated on 29 September 2026, and bodies are added with an effective date, usually 6 April of a tax year.

A body is approved only if HMRC is satisfied that it is not of a mainly local character, its activities are carried on otherwise than for profit, and its activities are wholly or mainly directed to approved objects (ITEPA s.344(3)). Those objects are advancing or spreading knowledge, maintaining standards of conduct and competence in a profession, and indemnifying members of a profession against professional claims (s.344(2)).

04/ For membership bodies

Applying, and telling members once you are listed.

A body applies on form P356, by secure upload or by post to HMRC. Subscriptions paid in the same tax year before the application, or after applying but before approval, are treated as paid to an approved body (ITEPA s.344(7)).

Once listed, the relief is a benefit that costs nothing to deliver, but only if members know. Our member benefits guide sets out how to present it; corporate membership covers the position when an employer pays.