The costs of working from home: claiming back tax for your work expenses

These days more than 44% of UK workers self-report working from home for all or part of the week. Yet far fewer are aware that they can claim tax relief for additional household costs.

Here, we lay out in simple terms how to know if you’re eligible for this extra financial support and how much you can expect to receive. 

Am I eligible for tax relief because I work from home? 

If your job requires you to live far away from the office, or your employer doesn’t have an office, you are entitled to claim tax relief for costs related to home working. 

The tax relief is intended to give extra support for the costs of gas and electricity as well as business phone calls. 

For claims on or before 6 April 2022, you can claim if your employer has not already paid your expenses and you have additional household costs as a result of working from home.

One of the following rules must also apply:

• There are no appropriate facilities available for you to perform your job on your employer’s premises
• Your job requires you to travel an unreasonable distance to and from your employer’s premises on a daily basis
• Government guidelines or your employer have required you to work from home or self-isolate
• Your employer has not already paid your expenses
• You have additional household costs as a result of working from home

What would make me ineligible?

According to HMRC, you cannot claim tax relief if you have chosen to work from home.

They include a few different circumstances: such as working from home because of Covid-19, if your employer does have an office but you can’t work there because it’s full, or if your contract lets you work from home some or all of the time.  

It is also important to note that you cannot claim for everything that you use for both private and business use, such as rent or broadband access.

How much can I claim?

If you are eligible, you’ll get tax relief based on the rate at which you pay tax. You can make a claim for this tax year and the 4 previous tax years. 

The HMRC guidelines state that if you are submitting a claim you can expect either: 

• £6 a week from 6 April 2020 (for previous tax years the rate is £4 a week).
• The exact amount of extra costs you’ve incurred above the weekly amount.

Usually, you’ll get tax relief through a change to your tax code.

What do I need to make a claim? 

For the basic £6 per week from April 2020, you won’t need to submit any evidence of extra costs. You simply need to let HMRC know that you’ve been working from home. 

However, if you want to claim for extra costs you’ve incurred above the weekly amount, you’ll need evidence such as receipts, bills or contracts with your employer. 

How do I submit a claim?

To make a claim you must go via the HMRC form at the bottom of their advice page on working from home tax relief. 

Their process will guide you through the submission process.

You can expect to hear back within 8 weeks. 

If you have any thoughts on this topic, or any other consumer issues you would like us to cover, feel free to get in touch with us at support@resolver.co.uk.