As a specialist, you are likely paying for GMC, BMA, medical indemnity and college membership.
A typical specialist pays £1,529 to £2,408 a year on these. Your trust pays none of it back, but £576 to £928 can come back from HMRC, if you keep the receipts.
Estimates from published fees for a typical full-time specialist. Yours might differ. Fees checked on against each body’s own fee page.
Specialist take-home pay after tax and NHS Pension ›Specialist tax rebate on fees, back four years ›
What you pay, receipt by receipt
Three fees come before any college. The GMC annual fee keeps you on the register. The BMA charges a yearly subscription. Medical indemnity is an estimate with a wide range, because each body quotes individually.
That comes to £1,372 to £2,072 a year. All three count for tax back: HMRC returns the income tax you paid on that money, once you claim it.
GMCreceipt.pdf
GMC annual fee
With a licence to practise
Total£481.00
✓ HMRC tax back
BMAcard statement
BMA membership
Annual subscription
Tax back on 85% of the fee
£49.25 a month
Total£591.00
✓ HMRC tax back
Then your college membership
The college is the one fee left. Colleges charge different amounts, so the receipt shows an estimated range across the main ones, with links to the fee pages at either end. Your exact rate depends on your post.
The last slip adds all four fees together.
Specialista typical year, with the three costs above
You pay in total£1,529 to £2,408
HMRC, 40%£576 to £928
Logos belong to their owners and show where each fee goes. Reimbsr is not affiliated with these bodies.
Who pays you back
Only HMRC pays you back at this grade, and only once you ask. Your trust pays back nothing for a specialist post.
Nothing from your trust
Trusts in England pay back exam fees, and from April 2027 membership fees, for resident doctors and locally employed doctors. A specialist post is not covered, so there is nothing to claim from your trust.
Every receipt above goes to HMRC instead.
All four fees
On the GMC, BMA, medical indemnity and college fees, HMRC gives back tax at your income tax rate. The estimate uses 40% for a specialist. Medical indemnity and the college range are estimates.
You claim on the P87, HMRC's form for claiming tax back on work costs you pay yourself (like GMC and BMA fees). It covers this tax year and the last four. Over £2,500 in a year, you use Self Assessment instead.
Claiming is easy. Proving it, a year later, is not.
With no trust claim, your receipts are for HMRC, which covers this tax year and the last four. Four fees go to four bodies on different dates, each with its own receipt, and nothing ties them together. The P87 feels like a job for another day.
- If you pay the BMA monthly, a year of it is twelve payments to piece together.
- The GMC receipt came when you paid the annual fee, and you have not seen it since.
- Medical indemnity is quoted just for you, so if the invoice is gone you cannot look the figure up.
- College membership is billed on its own date, so its receipt is easy to lose.
Keep each receipt the day it arrives, and the claim is ready when you are.
Reimbsr keeps the proof from the day you pay
At the end of the tax year, your four fees are already in one place, ready for your tax back. No old emails to search, no year of statements to piece together.
- Snap it or forward itSnap the receipt, forward the email to your own Reimbsr address, or add a drive. It reads the amount, date and claim deadline for you.
- See who pays you backEach expense is sorted into what your trust pays back and what HMRC gives tax back on, with the rule behind it. Not sure? Ask Reimbsr. It answers from published NHS and HMRC guidance, with sources, and in a grey area writes the question for you to send to medical staffing.
- Check it, then send itReimbsr builds one PDF with every line and receipt, and drafts the email to whoever approves your expenses. You check it and send it from your own email.
- Get your tax backIt fills in your P87 at the end of the tax year, on Free and Pro, so you get tax back on the fees your trust does not pay.
Doctors like you (Specialist) are typically eligible for £576 to £928 back as tax relief a year.It will be free to try; you may never need to upgrade. Pro is £49.99 a year (£0.96 a week), only if it saves you more than it costs. See pricing ›
Free to start. Upgrade only if it pays.
In keeping with making financially savvy decisions, Reimbsr will be free to try. Only upgrade to the Pro version (£0.96 a week) if you think the app can help you save more money than it costs.