To assist taxpayers, HMRC has launched an online portal for the making of working from home expenses incurred during the pandemic.
From 6 April 2020, employees can claim a tax-free amount of £6 a week to cover the additional costs of working from home. For a basic rate taxpayer, this works out to tax relief of £62.40 over the course of 2020/21, with relief of £124.80 for a higher rate taxpayer.
Taxpayers do not have to provide any evidence, such as increased bills, to support the £6 a week claim.
What to claim
For 2020/21, HMRC, in recognition of the unusual circumstances, are generously permitting a claim for the entire year regardless of how many weeks you are required to work from home. It doesn’t matter if you only work at home one or two days a week. If two or more people work from the same home, then each person is entitled to make a claim.
The amount to claim for 2020/21 is £312 (52 weeks at £6). The online portal can also be used to claim for the final two weeks of 2019/20 after the lockdown commenced.
The online portal
There are two circumstances when the online portal is not applicable:
- When your employer is reimbursing the £6 a week allowance – you are already benefiting from the tax-free amount.
- If you complete a self-assessment tax return – the expense claim should instead be made on the return.
Do not expect a tax refund once an online claim is made. Relief is given by adjusting your PAYE coding, so this will reduce PAYE over the remainder of 2020/21.
You can check here if you are entitled to claim work-related expenses, and then, if entitled, proceed with a claim.
Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
