As a CT3, you are likely paying for GMC, BMA, medical indemnity, your college and a clinical exam.
A typical CT3 pays £2,031 to £2,346 a year on these. £1,151 to £1,591 of it can come back from your trust and HMRC, if you keep the receipts.
Estimates from published fees for a typical full-time CT3 passing first time. Yours might differ. Fees checked on against each body’s own fee page.
CT3 take-home pay after tax and NHS Pension ›CT3 tax rebate on fees, back four years ›
What you pay, receipt by receipt
Every CT3 pays the same three things, whatever the specialty. The GMC fee is shown at the lower rate for doctors within five years of qualifying. The BMA charges £419 a year at CT3, and HMRC counts 85% of it. And you pay for medical indemnity.
Together that is £1,050 a year, before any college fee or exam. The indemnity figure is an estimate, because each body quotes you individually. You can get tax back on all three, if 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
£34.92 a month
Total£419.00
✓ HMRC tax back
Then your college and exam, by pathway
At CT3 your college and exam still depend on your specialty. Here are two pathways: psychiatry, with the MRCPsych CASC, and emergency medicine, with the MRCEM OSCE.
Each row adds a college fee, which you get tax back on, and the exam, which your trust pays back for your first two attempts. The slip at the end of each row adds it all up, including the three costs above.
Psychiatry two more receipts
MRCPsych CASCbooking email
Exam fee
First two attempts
Pre-membership trainee rate
Total£1,129.00
✓ Your trust pays back
CT3 · Psychiatrya typical year, with the three costs above
You pay in total£2,346
Your trust£1,129
HMRC, 40%£462
Emergency medicine two more receipts
RCEMreceipt.pdf
Membership
Training and ePortfolio
Total£375.00
✓ HMRC tax backMRCEM OSCEbooking email
Exam fee
First two attempts
Member rate, 2027
Total£606.00
✓ Your trust pays backCT3 · Emergency medicinea typical year, with the three costs above
You pay in total£2,031
Your trust£606
HMRC, 40%£545
Logos belong to their owners and show where each fee goes. Reimbsr is not affiliated with these bodies.
Who pays you back
Two places pay you back, and neither does it unless you ask. Your trust pays back the exam when you send a claim. HMRC gives tax back on the rest when you claim it.
Your exam, first two attempts
If you are a resident doctor in training, your trust pays back exams sat in England from 1 April 2026. Pay the College as normal, then claim the fee from your employer. You need the College receipt showing the fee and the sitting date.
From April 2027 your trust will also pay back royal college membership and portfolio fees. Until then, you get tax back on your college fee instead.
GMC, BMA, medical indemnity and your college
HMRC gives back tax on fees you pay yourself, at your income tax rate. The estimate uses 40% for a CT3 and counts 85% of the BMA fee. The exam is left out, because you cannot also get tax back on a fee your trust pays back.
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, use a Self Assessment tax return instead.
Claiming is easy. Proving it, a year later, is not.
At CT3 the exam is a clinical one, and your trust wants the College receipt showing the fee and the sitting date. But the exam, the college, the GMC, the BMA and your indemnity are all paid on different dates, with receipts in different places. By the time you claim, the paper trail has scattered.
- The CASC or OSCE booking email is buried, and your trust wants the fee and sitting date from it.
- Your medical indemnity invoice is a PDF in an inbox you may never open again.
- If you pay the BMA monthly, a year of it is twelve separate lines on your statement.
- Filling in the P87 means finding the GMC, indemnity and college receipts again, one by one.
Keep each receipt the day it arrives, and the claim is ready when you are.
Reimbsr keeps the proof from the day you pay
Nothing to remember: snap or forward each receipt when it arrives. Reimbsr reads the amount and date, works out who pays you back, and builds the claim for your trust when you are ready.
- 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 (CT3) are typically eligible for £606 to £1,129 reimbursed and £462 to £545 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.