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

Dazed_and_C0nfused

gozaimasu said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

There is no "allowance" for savings interest, presumably you mean one of the two 0% rates applicable to interest?

I personally didn't see anything wrong with the use of that word since we are "allowed" to earn a certain amount of interest before they start charging tax on anything above it.

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Can you confirm the description used on your tax code notice against the £312(?) that has been included. 

Yes, £312 under "Job Expenses". Is the reason you're asking because you suspect this is for the current tax year? Is the current tax year claimable for only working a few days from home during the tax year, as it was for 2020-2021? You have opened my eyes to a whole other potential issue to sort out.

Yes.  That is allowing tax relief for expenses relating to the 2021:22 tax year, not 2020:21.

The same rules apply in 2021:22 as they did for 2020:21.  A day WFH for Covid-19 reasons is sufficient to be able to claim expenses of £312.

If you have claimed Covid-19 related WFH expenses for 2020:21 then you will receive a separate calculation (called a P800 or PA302) in due course including the expenses of £312.

sadinlondon

Hi everyone,
I’m after some advice. I’ve been working from home since March 2020 because of Covid but never claimed tax relief. Recently found out about this so used a quick 3 or 4 question online service which changed my tax code for 2021-2022, which is great. Tried to then go back in and do the same for 2020-2021 but can’t find the same streamlined way of doing. My Gateway account takes me to a proper full form where I’m asked to claim how much exactly I paid for my expenses. I thought I’m just trying to claim the standard tax relief rate for working from home because of Covid. I’m confused as it seemed so straightforward the first time for my 2021-22 tax code change. Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to provide an exact expenses amount to claim for 2020-2021? Thank you for any advice!! 

bradavon

Martin keeps bringing this up, but he never mentions you need a UK Passport or Norther Irish driving licence in order to claim.

I don't currently have a UK passport, I use my Irish passport. The options are:

- Payslip or P60
Easy

- UK passport
Somewhere in Ecuador.
- Credit reference questions
It sends you around in circles, who knows the exact dates when they opened their bank accounts? It asks questions people can't possibly know. I doubt anyone's able to answer the credit reference questions it asks.
- Northern Ireland driving licence
I'm not Northern Irish.

The £80 UK passport fee blows the £62 tax credit gain. So I'm effectively unable to apply, despite being British and a UK taxpayer for years.

It used to say a UK driving licence was accepted. I've just applied for a renewed UK driving licence (also stolen in Ecuador) because that's only £17 but that's been removed as a valid option.

For most people you must have a UK passport. How on earth do non-UK citizens claim it?

Thanks.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

bradavon said:

Martin keeps bringing this up, but he never mentions you need a UK Passport or Norther Irish driving licence in order to claim.

I don't currently have a UK passport, I use my Irish passport. The options are:

- Payslip or P60
Easy

- UK passport
Somewhere in Ecuador.
- Credit reference questions
It sends you around in circles, who knows the exact dates when they opened their bank accounts? It asks questions people can't possibly know. I doubt anyone's able to answer the credit reference questions it asks.
- Northern Ireland driving licence
I'm not Northern Irish.

The £80 UK passport fee blows the £62 tax credit gain. So I'm effectively unable to apply, despite being British and a UK taxpayer for years.

It used to say a UK driving licence was accepted. I've just applied for a renewed UK driving licence (also stolen in Ecuador) because that's only £17 but that's been removed as a valid option.

For most people you must have a UK passport. How on earth do non-UK citizens claim it?

Thanks.

I think you have misunderstood how HMRC work.

Just phone them or go on webchat, there is no legislation which says you must claim online, it's just that they prefer that option.

You need to make it clear it is a Covid-19 WFH claim.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

sadinlondon said:

Hi everyone,
I’m after some advice. I’ve been working from home since March 2020 because of Covid but never claimed tax relief. Recently found out about this so used a quick 3 or 4 question online service which changed my tax code for 2021-2022, which is great. Tried to then go back in and do the same for 2020-2021 but can’t find the same streamlined way of doing. My Gateway account takes me to a proper full form where I’m asked to claim how much exactly I paid for my expenses. I thought I’m just trying to claim the standard tax relief rate for working from home because of Covid. I’m confused as it seemed so straightforward the first time for my 2021-22 tax code change. Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to provide an exact expenses amount to claim for 2020-2021? Thank you for any advice!! 

What date did you enter as the start date for your claim?

bradavon

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

I think you have misunderstood how HMRC work.

Just phone them or go on webchat, there is no legislation which says you must claim online, it's just that they prefer that option.

You need to make it clear it is a Covid-19 WFH claim.

I don't expect I have. You don't think they'll want two forms of ID on the phone too? They do online and that's intentional.

The website is clear. You need to provide two forms of ID. Unless you have a UK passport or Northern Irish driving licence it's pretty impossible though.

Like I said how does a Non-UK taxpayer claim? They won't have a UK passport, a Norrthern Irish driving licence and their UK credit history is probably pretty empty. That's them out.

All those EU citizens are expected to call? Seriously doubt they won't ask for ID on the phone too.

Last time Martin brought this up a few months ago and said it "takes minutes" I gave up after about 40 minutes trying all the permutations. The credit reference sends you around in circles (*) and you could even then use a UK driving licence. Which they've oddly removed.

* Like I said few people are going to know the dates they opened their bank accounts. Which is one of the credit check questions. I did my best to choose the right date but it failed.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

bradavon said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

I think you have misunderstood how HMRC work.

Just phone them or go on webchat, there is no legislation which says you must claim online, it's just that they prefer that option.

You need to make it clear it is a Covid-19 WFH claim.

I don't expect I have. You don't think they'll want two forms of ID on the phone too? They do online and that's intentional.

The website is clear. You need to provide two forms of ID. Unless you have a UK passport or Northern Irish driving licence it's pretty impossible though.

Like I said how does a Non-UK taxpayer claim? They won't have a UK passport, a Norrthern Irish driving licence and their UK credit history is probably pretty empty. That's them out.

All those EU citizens are expected to call? Seriously doubt they won't ask for ID on the phone too.

Last time Martin brought this up a few months ago and said it "takes minutes" I gave up after about 40 minutes trying all the permutations. The credit reference sends you around in circles (*) and you could even then use a UK driving licence. Which they've oddly removed.

* Like I said few people are going to know the dates they opened their bank accounts. Which is one of the credit check questions. I did my best to choose the right date but it failed.

Martin Lewis does not run HMRC and you are massively overthinking this.  Seriously.

Just phone HMRC up or go on webchat ensuring you have your National Insurance number to hand along with the date you started having to WFH due to Covid-19.

I have phoned a few times and never ever been asked for anything about my credit history or driving licence.

sadinlondon

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

sadinlondon said:

Hi everyone,
I’m after some advice. I’ve been working from home since March 2020 because of Covid but never claimed tax relief. Recently found out about this so used a quick 3 or 4 question online service which changed my tax code for 2021-2022, which is great. Tried to then go back in and do the same for 2020-2021 but can’t find the same streamlined way of doing. My Gateway account takes me to a proper full form where I’m asked to claim how much exactly I paid for my expenses. I thought I’m just trying to claim the standard tax relief rate for working from home because of Covid. I’m confused as it seemed so straightforward the first time for my 2021-22 tax code change. Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to provide an exact expenses amount to claim for 2020-2021? Thank you for any advice!! 

What date did you enter as the start date for your claim?

Hi,

I selected ‘claiming from 5 April 2020 to 6 April 2021’.  Didn’t have to enter a date. 

Thanks,
Sasha

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Then I'm not sure why you are trying to do anything else?

I would expect you to get a calculation for 2020:21 in due course allowing the tax relief for 2019:20 (one week) and 2020:21 (full year).

2019:20 is limited to one week, not the full year (for working just one day) and 2019:20 is only £4/week as well not £6.

gozaimasu

HMRC is obviously having some serious problems at the moment, what with pensions not being paid on time and their general level of incompetence increased by very long delays in responding to taxpayers and sorting things out without making mistakes. It appears they still haven't calculated my 2020-2021 tax which is one of the reasons for me not getting my WFH refund for that tax years, so I'm forced to wait.

I looked on the HMRC jobs list and they aren't even recruiting people so that they can reduce the delays and improve customer service - they are only recruiting for highly paid roles £40/50/60k.