As an associate specialist, you are likely paying for GMC, BMA, medical indemnity and royal college membership.
A typical associate 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 associate specialist. Yours might differ. Fees checked on against each body’s own fee page.
Associate specialist take-home pay after tax ›Associate specialist tax rebate on fees, back four years ›
What you pay, receipt by receipt
Three fees come before your college. The GMC annual fee keeps you registered, and the BMA charges a subscription. Medical indemnity is the third, and its figure is an estimate because you are quoted individually.
Together that is £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, and the total
Associate specialist has one more fee: your college. Colleges charge different amounts, so the receipt shows an estimated range across the main ones, with links to the fee pages at each end.
The last slip adds the college to the three fees above.
Associate 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, and only once you ask. Nothing comes from your trust at this grade.
Why your trust pays back nothing
Trusts in England pay back exam fees, and from April 2027 membership fees, for resident doctors and locally employed doctors. An associate specialist post is not covered.
So the college membership here counts for tax back, like the rest.
The four fees, as tax back
On work fees you pay yourself, HMRC gives back tax at your income tax rate. The estimate uses 40% for an associate specialist.
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.
Your trust has nothing to pay back, so the receipts are for HMRC, which covers this tax year and the last four. That means four fees to four bodies, with the paperwork in different inboxes and accounts, and nothing brings it together until claim time.
- The college receipt shows where you sit in the range, and it is in an old email.
- Medical indemnity and the college are estimates on this page; only your invoices give the real figures.
- Only 85% of the BMA fee counts, so you need the exact amount you paid.
- At claim time, you are searching four places for each year of payments.
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 (Associate 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.