Working from home

carlsl

Hi, I have been working for this company for nearly 3 years now and have worked from home since the start paying for electric and heating bills because there is always someone in the house. I was wondering if there is any way to claim any money back in any form to help with the rising fuel cost so I can continue to work from home.

Regards

PlutoinCapricorn

Does your contract of employment state that your home is your main place of work, or is it your own choice to work from home?

If you have chosen to work from home, you can't get anything for extra electricity use etc.

TM1976

If you work from home as a part of a regular pattern there is an expense allowance of £3 a week you can claim. You can claim tax relief on the £3 not the £3 itself, which is likely to be 20% of the total amount. You can claim retrospectively, but prior to the 08/09 tax year the allowance was £2 per week.

You can't claim any extra for rising costs unless the treasury decides to allow a higher allowance than the £3.

carlsl

Thanks for replying - it is my contract to work from home. How do I claim the tax relief.

Regards

fengirl_2

You write to your tax office and tell them you are required to work from home and want to claim the £3pw relief. For the previous years, the allowance is £2pw and you need to tell them the date you started and that you want a payable order for previous years, not a code change for this year.