Claw back the cost of working from home
| Date | 28 June 2021 |
| Published date | 28 June 2021 |
| Publication title | Coventry Telegraph |
The lucky ones will get help from their employer towards additional costs, such as equipment, heating, lighting, water and broadband.
If your employer won't pay, you should still be able to claim tax relief on £6 a week from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), under a new, temporary, flat-rate scheme.
You can claim even if you worked at home for just a single day, as long as it was due to coronavirus restrictions.
The tax relief is worth up to £280 for the past two tax years, with basic rate 20% taxpayers getting a maximum £125.
What can I claim? Employers who require staff to work at home can give them up to £6 a week to cover the cost, which is free of tax.
Sadly many companies are struggling and say they can't afford to pay their staff more, or refuse to do so. If yours is one of them don't panic, because in this case HMRC allows you to claim tax relief on £6 of your weekly income.
Employees have been able to claim tax relief on the additional cost of working from home since 2003. HMRC simplified the rules during the first COVID-19 lockdown, and you can claim £6 without showing any evidence that you have incurred extra costs.
You can claim relief both for the 2020/21 tax year, which began on April 6, 2020, and the current 2021/22 tax year, which runs to April 6, 2022.
You can even do it if you worked at home for just one day, provided this was a necessity due to the pandemic. How much do I get?
Tax relief is based on your tax rate. So if you pay income tax at the basic rate of 20%, you would get £1.20 per week, which is 20% of £6. That cuts your tax bill by £62.40 over the year, or £124.80 for the two years that the scheme is due to run.
This relief is worth more for higher rate 40% taxpayers, who get £2.40 a week. This adds up to £124.80 over one year, or £249.60 over two years.
This relief is paid by changing your tax code, which instructs your employer how much tax to take, and should be done automatically.
You can claim for the full year even if you only work from home part-time or one day a week, and use your workplace the rest of the time. It also applies if you are working at home while other colleagues are in the office.
You cannot claim tax relief if your employer has already paid your expenses or given you an allowance to cover them.
Working from home tax relief is paid...
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