You or your employees may be able to claim tax relief for additional household costs if you have to work at home on a regular basis, either for all or part of the week. This includes if you have to work from home due to Coronavirus.
You cannot claim if you chose to work from home.
Additional costs include heating, metered water bills, home contents insurance, business calls or a new broadband connection. They do not include costs that would stay the same if not working from home such as mortgage interest, rent or council tax.
You may also be able to claim tax relief on equipment purchased such as laptop, chair or mobile phone if not reimbursed by your employer.
How much can be claimed?
You can claim tax relief on:
- £6 per week from 6 April 2020 (for the previous tax year the amount was £4 per week) – you will not need to keep records of actual costs.
- The exact amount of extra costs above the weekly amount, you will need evidence such as bill or receipts to support this.
You get tax relief based on the rate at which you pay tax. If you are a 20% tax payer then tax relief on £6 per week would get £1.20 per week. Or if a 40% taxpayer then the tax relief is £2.40 per week.
You can make a claim for working from home tax relief, and automatically get the relief for the full tax year (for 2020/21 only). The full amount applies even if you are working from home part time and some time office based.
