Told to Work From Home - Bills

Saga

I've been told to work from home.  I fully appreciate this is for my health and that for society to minimise the effect of COVID-19.  However, I am having to put on my heating when otherwise I would not and buy items to make the workspace ergonomic.  Particularly for the extra on my electricity bill, am I entitled to anything from my employer or HMRC?

onwards&upwards

No.

Wear more layers if you’re cold, the weather is warming up nicely now anyway, it’s beautiful where I am this morning!

poppy12345

There's no help available for your heating bills. Maybe put on an extra jumper?

JGB1955

Think how much you are saving on commuting and travelling time costs.

Saga

I suffer from a congenital metabolic syndrome meaning my body temperature is lower than normal and can't compensate through normal physiological reactions such as shivering. So while I am already wearing many more layers than most people I am still cold and have you ever tried typing with two pairs of gloves?

Regarding commuting costs; they were already low as I live close to my workplace.

richc1981

I believe that energy costs from working at home may be tax deductible.  You can only claim for what you use to heat the room you work in though (e.g. cost to run a 2kw fan heater for 8 hours).  You would then claim back from HMRC at the end of the tax year via there online form.   So if it costs you say £25 a week to heat one room, and you are basic rate tax payer at 20% you would get back £5.   If you use gas fired heating you could claim part of your gas bill, perhaps based on the size of your office compared with the rest of your house.  Hope this helps! Richard

Saga

Thanks, Richard.

Jeremy535897

Firstly, are you able to ask your employer whether he is prepared to reimburse your additional costs for working from home? That is the best option. Such reimbursements are exempted from tax in many circumstances. It is much harder to claim tax relief for unreimbursed expenses. If you search for homeworking rules and expenses on the TaxAid website you will get the full details.

Lorian

Honestly I think you are really trying your luck asking for heating costs to be reimbursed. Given whats going on better to keep your head down and be glad you are still employed.

As you haven't asked to work from home I think there will be some tax relief You can find out here
https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home

Always assuming HMRC has enough contingency plans in place to shift their own workers to home quickly enough to be able to process the year end tax......

unforeseen

richc1981 said:

I believe that energy costs from working at home may be tax deductible.  You can only claim for what you use to heat the room you work in though (e.g. cost to run a 2kw fan heater for 8 hours).  You would then claim back from HMRC at the end of the tax year via there online form.   So if it costs you say £25 a week to heat one room, and you are basic rate tax payer at 20% you would get back £5.   If you use gas fired heating you could claim part of your gas bill, perhaps based on the size of your office compared with the rest of your house.  Hope this helps! Richard

You won't. You would only get tax relief for the period it was heated for business so on an 8 hour day it would be a third of that. 
If you can claim you would be better off just claiming the £4 per week as that doesn't need proof. 
Claiming actual costs means providing HMRC with detailed figures and evidence that your costs have increased AND it was solely due to business reasons. Heating the rest of the house doesn't count it would just be the one room you use as an office, and if it's your living room then good luck in working that out and proving it as that room is not solely for business. 

Forwandert

Does your workplace have things in place to help with your condition when you're in the office? If it's yes I would imagine it's worth having a chat with them just to see if they would help, worst thing that can happen would be they say no.