Workers who clock in from home each day could be owed money from HMRC. According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, 41% of workers reported working from home at least some of the time.
This largely stems from the necessity of home working during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and many employers have continued with this practice in the years since. But this means that the cost of working from home can fall on employees. The good news is employees can claim tax relief on the expenses amassed when working from home – including Wi-Fi and energy costs.
Employees can claim tax relief on £6 per week which equates to £62 a year for a basic rate taxpayer with incomes of up to approximately £50,000 (£6pw x 52 x 20%) or £125 a year for a higher rate taxpayer (£6pw x 52 x 40%) for the current tax year.
If you have not yet applied, you can claim for up to four years if you were eligible.
To be eligible you must have been told to work from home by your employer, you can’t choose to work from home and you must not be receiving expenses directly from your employer for working at home.
You do not need to complete a self-assessment to claim, however, those that do complete a self-assessment can claim their expenses this way. To claim, you simply go online and use the HMRC portal. More details can be found on the HMRC Portal.
Once your application has been approved, your tax code will be adjusted for the tax year. Your employer will then know how much tax to deduct from your pay. You will receive the rebate directly through your salary.
If you are a basic rate taxpayer, you will receive around £5 extra added to your pay each month, if you are a higher rate taxpayer you will receive around £10 extra added to your pay each month.
If you have a backdated claim, you will receive a lump sum in your next payslip.
If the sums don’t come close to meeting the additional costs that you have incurred, you can either complete a self-assessment for each year or complete a P87 form that allows employees to claim back expenses of up to £2500.
Additional allowable expenses will include heating and lighting, metered water, additional insurance costs and telephone and internet access charges.
Costs must relate to the work area of the home. Costs that are the same, whether or not you work at home, cannot be included.
Specifically, this includes mortgage interest, rent, council tax, and water rates. You don’t receive the full cost back – only the tax relief on these costs.
If you, for example, spent an additional £500pa a basic rate taxpayer would benefit by £100 (£500 x 20%).
