Child care vouchers - if you have children attending a nursery or looked after by a professional childminder, your employer can join a Childcare voucher scheme. This allows for £55 of the weekly cost to be deducted free of tax and NI if you are a basic tax rate payer, or £28 if you are a higher rate tax payer.

Pensions – if you pay into a work pension scheme, 20% tax is automatically deducted. For high rate tax payers, you can claim additional relief either by declaring it on your Self-Assessment or calling the taxman.

Company cars – are a pain and the tax is huge BUT if you have a company van, the benefit in kind is capped at £3,000 so for a basic rate tax payer the cost of driving is only £600 or £1,200 for a higher rate payer.

Professional membership fees - your membership to a recognised trade or professional body it is a deductible expense, but not for your hobbies.

Share incentive schemes - there are loads of schemes that allow either NI or Capital Gains Tax to be saved, you don’t have work for a listed company either.

Giving your work colleagues a lift to work - if your employer encourages car pooling you can claim 5p a mile for the passenger without incurring any additional tax charge.

Cycle to work - get your employer to provides a bike both for travel to work and play, it’s not considered as a benefit in kind.

Then after a time you can buy it off them at market value.

Season ticket loans - your company can advance the cost of an annual season ticket up to £5,000, much cheaper than buying a ticket weekly.

From April 2014 this increases to £10,000 (not really sure if that’s a blessing?)

Electric Cars – from April 2015 there’s no benefit in kind.

Working from home – it is becoming increasingly more common for staff to work from home. You can claim £4 a week allowance without having to produce receipts.