Martin Lewis: Working from home due to coronavirus, even for a day? Claim TWO years' worth of tax re 2 April 2020 at 2:46PM edited 13 April 2021 at 1:52PM in Martin's Blogs & Appearances & MoneySavingExpert in the News 492 replies 53.3K views

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Maybe re word your post as it doesn't really make much sense

NavalAviator

The article on the website states in bold that if you previously claimed for tax year 20/21 then you must make a new claim for the 21/22 tax year, however when I go through the Gov.UK microsite, it won't let me do that and tells me that as I have claimed for previous years, my tax code will automatically be adjusted.

The first question is "Have you previously claimed tax relief for your employment expenses?" to which I selected Yes as I claimed for both 19/20 and 20/21.

The next question is "Have your employment expenses changed since your last claim?" to which I selected No as I am only claiming the same tax relief on £6/week as per previous years.

As soon as I select No on the second question I get a message in red stating "You do not need to make a claim. Your tax code will be based on the information you have already given us".

When I check on my latest pay slips and compare them to my previous ones, my tax code is almost identical this year to last year (last digit has gone up by 6).

On that basis, I don't think the website is correct - if you claimed in previous years, your tax code is adjusted automatically for this year as well.

Can anyone confirm whether this is correct?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

What is tax code being operated by your employer?

What is the tax code shown on your Personal Tax Account?

What is the make up of your tax code on your Personal Tax Account?

NavalAviator

My tax code for last year (20/21) was 1282L
My tax code for this year (21/22) is 1288L.

Unsure what the makeup of either tax code is.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

The tax code most people have is 1257L

If you add in expenses of £312 this would become 1288L.

So you appear to already be getting the relief due.

NavalAviator

Ok, thanks, that makes sense.

easy

My employer paid us the £6 per week until July, then stopped.  However they still suggested we work from home part of the week to allow for social distancing in the office.  As I got a payment for part of the year, can I still claim through the microservice?

tashhick

Hi. I've already submitted a self assessment return for 2020-2021, but forgot to claim this tax relief. Is there any way to do so now? Or is it too late now that I've submitted my return?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

You have plenty of time 

You can amend a 2020:21 return anytime upto 31 January 2023.

Racxie

I've kept putting this off but after the latest MSE email I thought I'd better get on with this before it's too late, however I'm already kind of stumped:

I've started following the online claims process and correctly stated I've not previously claimed tax relief on my employment expenses. It then asks me to find my address, and then asks me for my phone number and a suitable time for them to call me. I'm not sure why they would need to call if I'm applying for the tax relief online as a PAYE, and as I have a phone-based job I can't exactly start taking calls from them whenever they'd feel like getting back to me.

Can anyone shed light on this? I also believe my employer contributed something towards my expenses for a short while during the first lockdown, but I'm not sure if I'll need to look through all my payslips and work that all out later, so any heads up on this would be appreciated