Working from Home Allowance

thattimeofyear

Hello,

I'm a sole employee and Director of my own Limited Company. I have always filed a SA but have never previously claimed the working from home allowance - i.e., the flat £3 per week expense.

Am I correct in thinking that I can make a claim for the last 4 years in this year's SA? So a total of £572 (£3 x 52 x 3, + £2 x 52 (for 2007-2008))

Thanks

ManicMum

Hello

Working from Home Allowance? I have never heard of this. I just claim percentages of gas, electricity, phone etc. What is this allowance?

Mikeyorks

Same as you're claiming - different terminology?

Kernel_Sanders

Mikeyorks wrote: »

Same as you're claiming - different terminology?

No, s/he specified a flat £3 per week allowable expense.

00ec25

ManicMum wrote: »

Hello

Working from Home Allowance? I have never heard of this. I just claim percentages of gas, electricity, phone etc. What is this allowance?

its not an "allowance" as such, it just a matter of how you present your claim. There are 2 ways:

method 1: £3 per week flat claim: - HMRC have stated that this value will be accepted without question

method 2: Manicmum's proportion approach - prfectly valid method based on a reasonable assessment of usage, clearly therefore HMRC may question its basis eg: 1 room used for business in 4 room house but room only used 50% of time as dedictated workspace (claim therefore 12.5% of all costs) - now prove it if challenged!!!!! Hence people choose instead to stay below the radar at £3 per week

(Of course both methods assume that you are genuinely entitled to claim working from home, OK for self employed, hard for employees - don't know about directors)

System

I only ever claim a max of 48 weeks per year based on the fact that I take holidays