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

dunsford123

Suspect I’m a lone voice but I find this whole thread/topic highly distasteful. Martin seems to promoting this as a badge of honour. The Government ( whether you like them or not) are borrowing money that our kids will be paying off for decades. Yet this topic is all about a exploiting a loophole that means you can squeeze a bit from HMRC - where the hell do you think this money comes from ? It’s the public purse and every one of you taking advantage of this that doesn’t need it should be ashamed. Martins argument that you should donate to charity if you don’t really need it is mind bogglingly lazy
Think before you make this claim- you are withdrawing funds from people that might really need it

glider3560

dunsford123 said:

Suspect I’m a lone voice but I find this whole thread/topic highly distasteful. Martin seems to promoting this as a badge of honour. The Government ( whether you like them or not) are borrowing money that our kids will be paying off for decades. Yet this topic is all about a exploiting a loophole that means you can squeeze a bit from HMRC - where the hell do you think this money comes from ? It’s the public purse and every one of you taking advantage of this that doesn’t need it should be ashamed. Martins argument that you should donate to charity if you don’t really need it is mind bogglingly lazy
Think before you make this claim- you are withdrawing funds from people that might really need it

By working from home, I incur expenses I wouldn't if I were not working (e.g. increased electricity, more printer ink, etc).  It is a cost solely associated with work, so why shouldn't I be able to claim tax relief on it, in the same way as (for example) a self employed tradesperson would claim the cost of mileage to each job?

ashel

Can anyone please tell me how/if this will affect the capital gains tax position when a house is sold if working from home tax relief has been claimed?

gozaimasu

I didn't sign up to the government gateway, nor do I want to. I sent off the P87 anyway. Nothing to lose but the price of a stamp, some ink, electricity and some paper.

glider3560 said:

Yes.  Self Assessment is nearly all fully automated if you file online, so you can see the deduction on the calculation screen.
If you put it in the wrong box, and your tax return is one of the few that get audited by a human, then they'll just move it to the correct box if you've explained what it is for and inserted the correct amount.

Oh, didn't realise you meant self assessment. That doesn't apply to me, I'm PAYE.

rioja77

This rebate doesn’t benefit the lowest paid? (or is there something I have missed??)  
I won’t earn enough to pay tax this year (even with passing a bit of my tax allowance, the max Im allowed to, on to my husband). So it seems there is no way of recouping any proportion of any extra costs from working from home?  (I’m PAYE, my employer has promoted the tax relief scheme to us all and says it doesn’t reimburse any costs etc)  I’m pretty sure there is nothing  I’ve missed but am a little disappointed that it seems that the higher your wages are the greater the recompense from the tax system.

Retro_Bunny

The HMRC states that you can claim for more costs if you can prove that you are able to apportion them to home working - has anyone done this, and can you advise how easy it was?
Also due to lack of space and sanity at home, I'm debating renting a small office, up to £200 per month. Would I be able to claim this as working from home tax relief as I'd be using it as my "home" base? Or is there any other relief for this?

Ghostio

What other costs (apart from gas/electric) make you eligible? My rent is all-inclusive and hasn't (yet) changed but I've definitely spent more money on incidental food and drink costs - living in a bedsit wo a desk and was going to a cafe on a regular basis to relieve mental and physical stress from bending over a coffee table all day....i don't want to claim unless this is considered legit. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Ghostio said:

What other costs (apart from gas/electric) make you eligible? My rent is all-inclusive and hasn't (yet) changed but I've definitely spent more money on incidental food and drink costs - living in a bedsit wo a desk and was going to a cafe on a regular basis to relieve mental and physical stress from bending over a coffee table all day....i don't want to claim unless this is considered legit. 

I suspect you are overthinking this.

If you have had to work from home due to Covid-19 then the best option is to get your employer to pay you £6/week.  Tax free.

If they can't or won't pay then you can claim tax relief on £6/week from HMRC.  This will save anywhere from £0.00 to £3.60/week in tax.  For most people it will save them £1.20/week.

You are not going to be able to claim separately for food and drink.

DelboyHW

Hi

(i) Is there a deadline to apply by?, and (ii) If one applies late [e.g. mid March], will the allowance be credited to next years tax code?

Reason for asking is my salary in the coming tax year will creep me over the 40% threshold, but accounting for this tax relief will just keep me under. Therefore, I am hoping that if I apply in mid-March, which will be too late to impact my 2020/21 taxes,  the change to my tax code will be applied to my 2021/22 code – or is this wishful thinking??

Dazed_and_C0nfused

i). 5 April 2025 (for 2020:21 tax year).
ii). Probably yes however the adjustment to your tax code should be based on the tax saving due for the year the claim applies to.

So if you were due to save say £60 in 2020:21 and were a higher rate payer in 2021:22 you would have an earlier year allowance in your tax code worth £150 (£150 x 40% = £60).