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

conifers66

Having a conversation with a work colleague about the P87 claim. She feels that it is immoral to claim as her retired husband is the house and she would have to have the heating on for him anyway. What's the view?

jon81uk

conifers66 said:

Having a conversation with a work colleague about the P87 claim. She feels that it is immoral to claim as her retired husband is the house and she would have to have the heating on for him anyway. What's the view?

In the grand scheme of things, claiming tax relief on an extra £312 a year is not really that worth worrying about. If they are a 20% tax rate payer then its £62 a year that HMRC miss out on.

conifers66

jon81uk said:

conifers66 said:

Having a conversation with a work colleague about the P87 claim. She feels that it is immoral to claim as her retired husband is the house and she would have to have the heating on for him anyway. What's the view?

In the grand scheme of things, claiming tax relief on an extra £312 a year is not really that worth worrying about. If they are a 20% tax rate payer then its £62 a year that HMRC miss out on.

Well she is a 40% tax rate tax payer...so HRMC are missing out on £124 a year. She got quite uppity about it! Thinks it will add to the national debt etc and we shouldn't be claiming for things we dont need. But as the saying goes "don't stare a gift horse in the face"

jon81uk

conifers66 said:

jon81uk said:

conifers66 said:

Having a conversation with a work colleague about the P87 claim. She feels that it is immoral to claim as her retired husband is the house and she would have to have the heating on for him anyway. What's the view?

In the grand scheme of things, claiming tax relief on an extra £312 a year is not really that worth worrying about. If they are a 20% tax rate payer then its £62 a year that HMRC miss out on.

Well she is a 40% tax rate tax payer...so HRMC are missing out on £124 a year. She got quite uppity about it! Thinks it will add to the national debt etc and we shouldn't be claiming for things we dont need. But as the saying goes "don't stare a gift horse in the face"

Well if she is a 40% tax rate payer then getting an extra £124 is not going to be a lot of money to her so probably not worth the time and effort for her to claim anyway.

But for those on lower incomes, that extra little bit of money could come in useful.

glider3560

jon81uk said:

conifers66 said:

jon81uk said:

conifers66 said:

Having a conversation with a work colleague about the P87 claim. She feels that it is immoral to claim as her retired husband is the house and she would have to have the heating on for him anyway. What's the view?

In the grand scheme of things, claiming tax relief on an extra £312 a year is not really that worth worrying about. If they are a 20% tax rate payer then its £62 a year that HMRC miss out on.

Well she is a 40% tax rate tax payer...so HRMC are missing out on £124 a year. She got quite uppity about it! Thinks it will add to the national debt etc and we shouldn't be claiming for things we dont need. But as the saying goes "don't stare a gift horse in the face"

Well if she is a 40% tax rate payer then getting an extra £124 is not going to be a lot of money to her so probably not worth the time and effort for her to claim anyway.

But for those on lower incomes, that extra little bit of money could come in useful.

I'm a 40% taxpayer and will be claiming this.  £124 will pay for several takeaways, some new clothes and quite a few beers.

But then I'm a MSE user, so this sort of thinking probably comes naturally to me.

Monkeymonster_3

So what if you are partially reimbursed by your employer?
I homework irrespective of Covid restrictions. My employer pays two components:
£7 per month (£1.62 per week) towards broadband costs, which is taxable. 
£11 per month (£2.54 per week) towards other home working expenses, which is non-taxable.
Combined, this is £4.16 per week.

IF I decide to claim, is it based on the difference between £6 per week and both components at £4.16? 

Or,
Is it based on the difference between £6 per week and just the non-taxable £2.54?
For some reason I’m going round in circles and confusing myself with this!!

Grimly38

Hi there,
was wondering if you can apply for extra help with gas and electric when studying from home. I am currently studying PGCE and so am learning to teach and am basically working. Can you get support as I am finding I am spending so much money on my meter. If anyone has an ideas your reply would be greatly appreciated!

glider3560

Grimly38 said:

Hi there,
was wondering if you can apply for extra help with gas and electric when studying from home. I am currently studying PGCE and so am learning to teach and am basically working. Can you get support as I am finding I am spending so much money on my meter. If anyone has an ideas your reply would be greatly appreciated!

No.  You don't pay any tax on your studying, so you can't claim any tax relief on it.

You may wish to check out the Gas & Electricity forums to see if there's a cheaper option for your utilities (ditching the prepayment meter, which it sounds like you have, could be a good start).

hottoddy_2

hi, I’ve just completed the online form to claim tax back. I have now returned to the office but the form didn’t give any where for me to put an end date. It said it would run to the end of the tax year. And depending on how you want to interpret it , it suggested that was regardless of whether you had returned. However I may have that wrong. Does anyone know if there is an online method to notify the WFH end date?

glider3560

hottoddy_2 said:

hi, I’ve just completed the online form to claim tax back. I have now returned to the office but the form didn’t give any where for me to put an end date. It said it would run to the end of the tax year. And depending on how you want to interpret it , it suggested that was regardless of whether you had returned. However I may have that wrong. Does anyone know if there is an online method to notify the WFH end date?

In the "Amount paid by you" box, you should have put £6 multiplied by the number of weeks you worked from home.  What did you enter there?