Martin Lewis: Working from home due to coronavirus, even for a day? Claim TWO years' worth of tax re

mistac

I have 2 questions
1. My employer's office (like many others?) is not closed but they advised/instructed staff to work from home unless they were unable to so the vast majority of staff now work from home -   how I do stand in terms of claiming tax relief expenses in such a situation?
2. My employer sent staff home with a laptop - those of us who were not designated as homeworkers such as myself had to manage/beg/borrow equipment - I purchased several hundred £ worth of equipment which my employer will not reimburse -   how I do stand in terms of claiming tax relief expenses in such a situation?
thanks 

anniecave

mistac said:

I have 2 questions
1. My employer's office (like many others?) is not closed but they advised/instructed staff to work from home unless they were unable to so the vast majority of staff now work from home -   how I do stand in terms of claiming tax relief expenses in such a situation?
2. My employer sent staff home with a laptop - those of us who were not designated as homeworkers such as myself had to manage/beg/borrow equipment - I purchased several hundred £ worth of equipment which my employer will not reimburse -   how I do stand in terms of claiming tax relief expenses in such a situation?
thanks 

The first question has been answered on the previous pages of this thread. If you were told to work from home but your normal location is normally office based, yes you can claim.

Extra equipment that has not been re-imbursed by your employer is a grey area as if your employer didn't agree to re-imburse you then from their point of view it wasn't a necessary cost. One of the rules for an expense to be tax-deductible is that an expense must be necessary. What exact equipment did you purchase?  If you can find a HMRC helpline to call then that might be an option for advice.

mistac

anniecave said:

mistac said:

I have 2 questions
1. My employer's office (like many others?) is not closed but they advised/instructed staff to work from home unless they were unable to so the vast majority of staff now work from home -   how I do stand in terms of claiming tax relief expenses in such a situation?
2. My employer sent staff home with a laptop - those of us who were not designated as homeworkers such as myself had to manage/beg/borrow equipment - I purchased several hundred £ worth of equipment which my employer will not reimburse -   how I do stand in terms of claiming tax relief expenses in such a situation?
thanks 

The first question has been answered on the previous pages of this thread. If you were told to work from home but your normal location is normally office based, yes you can claim.

Extra equipment that has not been re-imbursed by your employer is a grey area as if your employer didn't agree to re-imburse you then from their point of view it wasn't a necessary cost. One of the rules for an expense to be tax-deductible is that an expense must be necessary. What exact equipment did you purchase?  If you can find a HMRC helpline to call then that might be an option for advice.

Thanks - I purchased a monitor, keyboard, desk and chair as I was not prepared to work (and it is not recommended) to work solely on a laptop for prolonged periods 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

mistac said:

anniecave said:

mistac said:

I have 2 questions
1. My employer's office (like many others?) is not closed but they advised/instructed staff to work from home unless they were unable to so the vast majority of staff now work from home -   how I do stand in terms of claiming tax relief expenses in such a situation?
2. My employer sent staff home with a laptop - those of us who were not designated as homeworkers such as myself had to manage/beg/borrow equipment - I purchased several hundred £ worth of equipment which my employer will not reimburse -   how I do stand in terms of claiming tax relief expenses in such a situation?
thanks 

The first question has been answered on the previous pages of this thread. If you were told to work from home but your normal location is normally office based, yes you can claim.

Extra equipment that has not been re-imbursed by your employer is a grey area as if your employer didn't agree to re-imburse you then from their point of view it wasn't a necessary cost. One of the rules for an expense to be tax-deductible is that an expense must be necessary. What exact equipment did you purchase?  If you can find a HMRC helpline to call then that might be an option for advice.

Thanks - I purchased a monitor, keyboard, desk and chair as I was not prepared to work (and it is not recommended) to work solely on a laptop for prolonged periods 

You won't be able to get tax relief for that as it wasn't a "necessary" purchase.  If it was necessary to do your job your employer would no doubt have provided it.

mistac

That's frustrating though - in my view any responsible employer would not send employees home solely with a laptop - either they should provide suitable additional equipment or reimburse/contribute as appropriate. I am surprised employers think it is acceptable to expect employees  to work like this given general/common advice as below  
"Prolonged use of a laptop, however, has its ergonomic limitations. On its own, the laptop is unsuited for working for more than two hours a day. Working longer on a laptop results in an uncomfortable working position with pain and discomfort at the end of a workday."

Dazed_and_C0nfused

You need to take it up with your employer.

You are much better off with 100% reimbursement from them than say 20% (tax relief) from HMRC anyway even if you were likely to be able to make a successful claim.

mistac

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

You need to take it up with your employer.

You are much better off with 100% reimbursement from them than say 20% (tax relief) from HMRC anyway even if you were likely to be able to make a successful claim.

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

You need to take it up with your employer.

You are much better off with 100% reimbursement from them than say 20% (tax relief) from HMRC anyway even if you were likely to be able to make a successful claim.

Thanks - my employer is a local authority and putting it bluntly they are not interested/willing to assist - hence my enquiries to see if there is anything I can claim/be reimbursed for! 

Lottie808

I've been working at home since mid-March. From the start of Sept we're permitted to go to the office on alternate days if we feel we need to (to maintain social distance between desks) but encouraged to stay working at home if we can. I intend to continue working at home full time. Does this mean I can still claim tax relief on £6/day for the whole week, or only the days when I'm not allowed into the office?

PerfectChoice

 Have read the 11 pages of posts here and I can see a few posts addressing whether you can claim when you are able to work out of your designated work location, but only part of a working week and having to still work from home for the reminder of the week.  Has anybody seen any clear policy statements out of HMRC on this then, or is it down to your own judgement to claim?

Situation I am referring to is that in my case, my employment contract designates I work from a set work location but due to Covid my employer has notified me I need to work from home. So in that situation I am able to claim and have already on my  2019-20 tax return, as this "enforced" home working started last March.

Now the slightly more grey area is when you are able to , or asked to, partly return to the work location you are designated to work from, but are unable to work there for your full contracted days, usually 5 days a week. This is going to become common I expect since due to the distancing rules dictated for Covid, it means all the workers who were previously based at a location cannot attend that location at the same time, so there will only be a proportion of time anybody can attend, which say, may be 2 days per week, or 1 week in 4 for example, with the rest being worked from home until the situation changes.

The clarification required from the HMRC then, is at what threshold of mixed home and company location working does this £6/week not become claimable, because the HMRC deem you to be working at your assigned company location? Can you claim it if you only work 1 day at home say and the other 4 days at your assigned company location, so as you are working "some time" at home and you can claim?  Or does it need to be a majority % of your standard working week, so that would mean 3 days out of 5 days working from home is OK to claim, but 2 out of 5 days at home with 3 at your work location is deemed not to be home working any longer and you cannot claim?

Personally I am still working from home but shortly will be able to work 2 days a week at my assigned work location as part of a rota system for the more limited desks available. So on that basis I believe I am still able to claim despite working 2 days at my location as the majority of my working week it still at home due to the Covid impact. But that may change at a future date where the % of time at home is less than that at my work location, so if the time I am at my work location  is greater than at home, at that point I can no longer claim? Any views or seen any advice covering this mixed location way of working from the HMRC?

jon81uk

mistac said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

You need to take it up with your employer.

You are much better off with 100% reimbursement from them than say 20% (tax relief) from HMRC anyway even if you were likely to be able to make a successful claim.

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

You need to take it up with your employer.

You are much better off with 100% reimbursement from them than say 20% (tax relief) from HMRC anyway even if you were likely to be able to make a successful claim.

Thanks - my employer is a local authority and putting it bluntly they are not interested/willing to assist - hence my enquiries to see if there is anything I can claim/be reimbursed for! 

Contact your health and safety department. Under the DSE regulations your employer has an obligation to assess your workstation set up if you use computer equipment for long periods.
https://www.hse.gov.uk/msd/dse/home-working.htm

They do not need to provide a monitor and base station, but a good minimum is a riser so the laptop screen is at a reasonable height and then a keyboard and mouse, cost to them would be about £50.

My employer asked us to take the keyboard and mouse from the office desk set up and then purchase laptop risers for those who needed them. On a temporary basis some people just put the laptop on a pile of books.

A desk is not necessary, a dining table would do. A chair might be able to be purchased if you personally have great need.