{"id":21181,"date":"2021-06-17T13:44:23","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T13:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smh.group\/?p=21181"},"modified":"2023-02-15T13:51:30","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T13:51:30","slug":"claim-your-tax-relief-for-working-from-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devstagesite.co.uk\/smhgroup\/claim-your-tax-relief-for-working-from-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Claim your tax relief for working from home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you have been working from home during the pandemic, don\u2019t forget you could be due some tax relief. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employees, required by their employers to work from home (WFH, as it has become known), have been able to claim tax relief long before the pandemic hit. The relief is designed to recoup the additional costs of WFH, such as paying for heating, lighting and business phone calls.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In theory a claim can be made for the actual extra outlay incurred if those costs are supported by appropriate records. In practice, the alternative of claiming a flat weekly relief amount set by HMRC is much simpler and more widely used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until April 2020, that flat sum was \u00a34 a week, but since the start of the 2020\/21 tax year it increased to \u00a36 a week. If you are a basic rate taxpayer, the relief is worth \u00a31.20 a week, with that amount doubled if you pay tax at higher rate (\u00a32.44 in Scotland, where higher rate is 41%). <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps you think such a trifling amount is hardly worth claiming, especially if homeworking is limited to a handful of weeks in the year. Before Covid-19 arrived, many took that approach and WFH relief was largely confined to \u2018tax nerds\u2019 territory. Unsurprisingly, the pandemic changed matters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HMRC found itself facing a multitude of claims, many from employees who did not make self-assessment tax returns. In response it implemented two policies: <\/p>\n\n\n\n