UK pre-1998 student loans and tax

September 4, 2007 3:13 AM

Are student loan repayments tax deductible in the UK?

I've asked various people (including HMRC - I think I caught them on a bad day, they were not helpful) and haven't managed to find an answer to this - is there tax payable on the £134 per month that I pay to the Student Loans Company in repayment of my student loans?

More details - I'm self-employed and do my own tax return each year (I don't have an accountant; perhaps it is time to get one). I took out student loans for a course that started in 1996, so I am not part of the new scheme whereby repayments are done as part of payroll (if employed) or are calculated by HMRC from the tax return (if self-employed). As I understand it, borrowers who started courses from 1998 onwards do not pay tax on their loan repayments - do I have to? At a stretch the student loan money could be considered a business expense, as my degree is directly relevant to the self-employed work I now do.

I do intend to phone HMRC again and check this, but thought I'd appeal to the collective wisdom here as well.

posted by altolinguistic to work & money (11 comments total)

I've had a look on the Student Loans website and the Inland Revenue (as I'm sure you have). My take is that they are NOT deductible but only because I can find not evidence to the contrary.

(This website calculator takes the payments out of your net pay.)

From what I remember of my 2 years of doing Self Assessment online is that as long as you put the right amounts in the right boxes it will do the arithmetic itself. Perhaps you should budget for it to be non-deductibile and then pay yourself a bonus if it is?
posted by SpacemanRed at 5:33 AM on September 4, 2007

Hmm... this link states that repayments are made from gross income for new-style loans.

Mine are old-style, though (they call them 'mortgage-style'), and I make payments myself, direct to the Student Loans company.
posted by altolinguistic at 6:10 AM on September 4, 2007

I agree. My take was that post 98 repayments are deductible, pre 98 repayments are not...
posted by SpacemanRed at 6:34 AM on September 4, 2007

Yes, I agree too. Repayments on pre' 98 loans are made out post-tax income as a flat rate. Repayments on post '98 loans are deducted out of gross income as a proportion that relevant earnings are over the repayment threshold.
posted by patricio at 6:38 AM on September 4, 2007

Well to that I say: hmph.
posted by altolinguistic at 6:52 AM on September 4, 2007

Anyone have any idea why this inconsistency exists, and who I should complain to? Or can anyone explain why I shouldn't be complaining?
posted by altolinguistic at 6:56 AM on September 4, 2007

Just a change in Government policy after the 1997 election.

Feel free to complain, though, that's your democratic right.
posted by athenian at 7:22 AM on September 4, 2007

I doubt complaining will do any good due to the massive incompatability between the two systems. A good defense for them, too, is that people with new loans still end up worse off because they've had to pay the new tuition fees and take out even larger loans, and you (probably) didn't.

But, yeah, get an accountant. They'll find ways to save you money even if you're really good on the expenses front. A free consultation with an accountant a few months ago saved me (legitimately) just over £3000 in taxes for the last tax year due to an allowance I wasn't aware of.
posted by wackybrit at 8:25 AM on September 4, 2007

It seemed to me that the new-style loans are not tax deductible either. The tax calculations in the self assessment forms seem to calculate income tax, NIC and student loan repayments separately, all based on the gross income. These three individual sub-totals are all then added to give the total collected by HMRC - i.e. the student loan repayment is not deducted before tax is calculated.

In any case, whether there's an inconsistency or not, the terms of the loan repayments were agreed to at the time of the loan. No point in complaining that the deal changed later. It sucks, but then again, I find the idea of having to pay up-front for your education more objectionable than the changing terms of the repayments.
posted by Jakey at 9:28 AM on September 4, 2007

you're right, Jakey (though my uncaffeinated brain still fails to see how the new-style repayments are not tax deductible), I'm just bitter at a large tax bill and the thought that I have to pay tax on the part of my income I have to use to pay off my loans. I'll get over it :)
posted by altolinguistic at 9:47 AM on September 4, 2007

there's very little justification for complaining.. the system changed to make loans easier to repay at the same time that fees were brought in. if you have pre-98 loans, you didn't have to pay fees, so that was the advantage then.

or as i understand it anyway.
posted by ascullion at 11:12 AM on September 4, 2007