How can you claim tax relief for working from home?

Did you know that you can claim tax relief if you’ve had to work from home?

It doesn't matter whether you work at home all week or just part of it, you’re able to claim tax relief on £6 per week. However, you can’t claim tax relief if you choose to work from home, so this is best suited to office workers who had to work from home this year and last year due to COVID-19.

What’s more, you can even backdate your claim for up to 4 years, which is helpful if you began working from home back in March 2020 and not yet made a claim.

What can you claim tax relief for?

You may be able to claim tax relief for gas and electricity, metered water, business phone calls and internet access, and potentially even on equipment you’ve bought, like computers, desks and chairs (which you can do here).

Again, note that you can’t claim for the whole bill, just the part that relates to your work.

How much tax relief you can you claim?

You can claim tax relief on £6 a week from 6 April 2020 without requiring any evidence like invoices or receipts. If you claim tax relief on £6 a week, you’d get £1.20 per week in tax relief if you pay the 20% basic rate of tax, which works out at £62.40 a year. Higher rate taxpayers who pay 40% can claim £2.40 per week in tax relief, which means you can claim £124.80 a year.

You can also claim the exact amount of extra costs you’ve incurred above the £6 a week amount, but you’ll need evidence such as receipts, bills or contracts to do this.

In total, you can claim up to £125 per year.

How do you receive this tax relief?

Once your application has been approved, your 2021/22 tax code will be adjusted, so you’ll receive this tax relief directly through your salary.

Related: see all the 2021/22 tax dates you need to know.

How to claim

1. Check you can claim on the GOV.UK website here.

2. Follow HMRC’s questions to make your claim.

3. You might need to create your Government Gateway ID, if you don’t already have one. If you need to do so, you’ll need your NI number and a form of ID (your P60 or valid UK passport will work here).

4. You’ll also need evidence like receipts and bills to hand if you’re looking to claim an exact amount for costs.

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