If you’re one of the millions who worked from home (WFH) during the Covid-19 pandemic – even for a single day – Martin Lewis says you could be entitled to up to £140 tax relief.
But you don’t have long left to claim it.
In the latest edition of his newsletter, the Money Saving Expert (MSE) founder warned it’s your ‘last chance’ to get what you’re owed, sharing a handy guide on how to do it.
The deadline to make a claim for costs incurred between April 6 2020 and April 5 2021 (when many Brits ended up WFH due to lockdowns) is Saturday April 5.
After this date, you’ll only be able to request for later tax years — and from 2022 onwards, eligibility rules became much stricter, so to ensure you don’t miss out, it’s important to put it to the top of your to-do list.
While there are a number of third-party agencies and firms advertising their services, MSE recommends doing it yourself.
‘Not only will a third party charge you a fee, but you’ll still be responsible for any claims made on your behalf,’ say the site’s consumer gurus. ‘If it’s done incorrectly, you could end up having to pay the full tax relief amount back.’
Thankfully, it’s easy (and completely free) to apply directly through HMRC.
Who is eligible for Covid-19 WFH tax relief?
People who regularly work from home have always been able to claim tax relief for additional costs – such as heating, water and electricity – they have to cover.
However, for the tax years 2020/21 and 2021/22, these rules were extended to those who worked from home for some of the time due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Alongside declaring specific extra costs you incurred as a result, your reason for WFH needs to fall into one or more of the following categories:
- The UK or your specific area was under lockdown.
- Your workplace was closed.
- You were told to isolate by NHS Test and Trace.
- You were self-isolating after being pinged by the NHS app.
According to MSE: ‘You can’t claim the tax relief if you chose to work from home (even for Covid-19 related reasons), you didn’t incur extra costs (though most people likely will have), or your employer has already covered your additional costs.’
An example of this might include if your employer paid you an extra amount tax-free to cover your expenses.
How much could you get?
As it would be extremely difficult for HMRC to work out the exact amount each person spent, ‘there is essentially a flat rate of £6 a week available to claim in tax relief for 2020/21 and 2021/22, which you don’t need to provide receipts for.’
This will look different depending on your income tax band, but essentially equates to a gain of:
- £1.20 a week for a basic 20% rate taxpayer (£62.40 a year).
- £2.40 a week for a higher 40% rate taxpayer (£124.80 a year).
- £2.70 a week for a top 45% rate taxpayer (£140.40 a year).
If you think the costs you incurred were more than £6 a week, you’ll need to provide evidence and show that these expenses were specifically caused by the fact you were working from home.
How to claim
It’s easy to apply directly through HMRC using this free online form.
You’ll need to log in with your Government Gateway ID (or create one) and select ‘6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021’ when asked which tax year you want to claim for. If applicable, you can claim for other dates later in the form.
From there, enter your employer’s name, PAYE reference and job title during the 2020/2021 tax year. If you’re stuck, you should be able to find this information on payslips or through the ‘Income Tax and employment history’ section of your Government Gateway PAYE profile.
If you only want to claim for Covid WFH, select ‘no’ when asked about flat rate expenses, uniform costs, using your own vehicle, travel and overnight expenses and/or professional fees and subscriptions.
The page that applies to you is titled ‘using your home as an office’. Here, you select ‘yes’ before entering £312 (the flat £6-a-week rate across 52 weeks) in the ‘amount paid by you field’ to claim for the full year.
When asked if you want to claim for other allowable expenses, click ‘no’, alongside entering how much (if anything) your employer covered out of your expenses. You’ll get to an overview page called ‘total expenses claimed’, and at this point, you can select ‘add another tax year’ if you wish.
There’s no need to add any ‘supporting evidence’ to your claim if it’s just for the flat £6 a week either — just finish off by giving the address you want your cheque to be sent and you’re good to go.
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