People who work from home can claim back expenses from HMRC each week, but many are missing out.
The money is given to cover the extra household costs if you have to work at home for all or part of the week.
According to the HMRC website, this could be because::
- your job requires you to live far away from your office
- your employer does not have an office
You cannot claim tax relief if you choose to work from home. This includes if:
- your employment contract lets you work from home some or all of the time
- your employer has an office, but you cannot go there sometimes because it’s full
You can only claim for things to do with your work, such as:
- business phone calls
- gas and electricity for your work area
You cannot claim for things that you use for both private and business use, such as rent or broadband access. You can claim for this tax year and the 4 previous tax years.
You can either claim tax relief of £6 a week, or the exact amount you’ve spent, and you’ll get tax relief based on the rate at which you pay tax. So, if you pay the 20% basic rate of tax and claim tax relief on £6 a week, you would get £1.20 per week in tax relief (20% of £6).
In a post on his Money Saving Expert website, Martin Lewis says: "If your employer requires you to work from home, you've always been able to claim for increased costs, eg, heat or electricity, for the specific time at home. Yet in October 2020, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) launched a 'microservice' which, even if you only needed to work from home for a day, allowed you to get a whole year's tax relief.
"That special relief applied for both the 2020/21 AND 2021/22 tax years – meaning many are due two years' worth, which can translate to up to £280 in your pocket.
"Since I first got tipped off about the microservice, I've pushed hard to make people aware, both here and on my TV show – and that push worked, with substantially more than four million people claiming. But many more could be missing out.
"So, if you had to work from home, even for a day, from 6 April 2020 to 5 April 2022 and haven't claimed, then you can still claim."
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How to claim
When you claim, you must send evidence that you have to work from home if you’re either claiming:
- £6 a week for the tax year 2022 to 2023 or later
- the exact amount you’ve spent
If you’re claiming the exact amount you’ve spent, you will also need to send evidence such as a copy of your receipts or bills.
If you complete a Self Assessment tax return, you must claim through your tax return instead.
