During the pandemic were you made to work from home? If you were, did you know you can apply for tax relief up to £140 per tax year?
Despite your costs for commuting having fallen, your other bills like electricity, internet, and gas have more than likely risen as a result of you working from home. Due to these rising costs, HMRC is allowing those who worked from home during the pandemic to claim tax relief. However, you will not be able to claim tax relief for things that you use for both private and business-related purposes. For example, your rent and your broadband services.
How is the tax relief paid?
You are able to backdate a claim to cover the first tax year of the pandemic (20/21) and the two weeks before as well as the second year (21/22), if you have been working at home since the first lockdown was announced on 23 March 2020.
HMRC has confirmed that you have until the 5th of April 2025 to make these claims for the 2020/21 tax year, and until the 5th of April 2026 to make these claims for 2021/22.
In order to claim this tax relief, you cannot have just chosen to work from home. There must have been no other option for you other than to work from home.
Are you eligible for tax relief for the last two tax years?
Not everyone will be eligible to claim for the last two tax years so if you meet these criteria then you might be able to make a claim;
- If you were told to work from home by your employer. You will not be able to claim tax relief if you chose to work from home.
- Have had to pay higher costs related to working from home (but you don’t need to show evidence of this)
- Must not be receiving expenses directly from your employer to cover the extra costs of working from home
NOTE; You will not get back the full cost of the extra expenses, only tax relief on the total.
If you think you might be eligible to make a claim or if you have any more questions about this then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We would love to help you with this!