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

Dazed_and_C0nfused

gregjlondon said:

Hi All,

New to this forum but hoping you can all help.

I have had 2 jobs in the current tax year, both regular PAYE setups. The first one (April-Sept) paid us the extra allowance tax free. The second one (Oct - present) doesn't, so I'm considering claiming.

In both I've had to work from home on and off and still do 2-3 days a week. However, when I go to the microsite, it asks 'Has your employer paid your expenses for working from home?'.

Should I say yes, no or some? Just not sure how to navigate and worried I might end up messing up my taxcode in the process.

If anyone can help or has been in a similar situation, please let me know!

Cheers

What date you start the new job and what date do you intend putting as the start date for your WFH claim?

gregjlondon

Thanks for replying! 

I guess I would put my October start date as the start date of the claim, considering my previous employer (up to October) gave it to us. 

Would that be correct?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

If you're putting the date you started the new job and the new company isn't paying you any WFH allowance I would just answer no to the "Has your employer paid your expenses for working from home?" question.

That way you should get roughly 6 months x £6/week expenses included in your tax code.

Oasis1

Any predictions whether this will continue in 2022/23? I will likely still have to work from home several days a week.

RoyalBlue_2

How do I go about claiming for 2020-21 please? The microsite link that Martin provides eventually takes me to my Government Gateway login and the only option offered there is a claim for the current tax year 2021-22. There is no option to select and claim for previous tax years.  

Dazed_and_C0nfused

RoyalBlue_2 said:

How do I go about claiming for 2020-21 please? The microsite link that Martin provides eventually takes me to my Government Gateway login and the only option offered there is a claim for the current tax year 2021-22. There is no option to select and claim for previous tax years.  

Where are you seeing that you can only claim for 2021:22?

What happens when you click "Accept and continue"?

RoyalBlue_2

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

RoyalBlue_2 said:

How do I go about claiming for 2020-21 please? The microsite link that Martin provides eventually takes me to my Government Gateway login and the only option offered there is a claim for the current tax year 2021-22. There is no option to select and claim for previous tax years.  

Where are you seeing that you can only claim for 2021:22?

What happens when you click "Accept and continue"?

It's not that it's saying I can only claim for only 2021-22 (in fact previously it refers to earlier years and rates). It's the fact that the option to select which year I want to claim for (as displayed in Martin's feature) does not appear to exist on the microsite/Government Gateway.

I'm reluctant to click 'Accept and Continue' as I did not work from home this tax year (2021-22) and the screen makes it pretty clear that the claim relates to 6 April 2021 to 5 April 2022. Furthermore there is a clear warning re giving incorrect or misleading information. It is unclear whether clicking 'Accept and continue' submits a claim for 2021-22 with no way back. 

I was hoping someone who has used the site for a claim might be able to shed some light on what happens and where you are taken if you click 'Accept and continue'. In the absence of that, I will have to ring HMRC for clarification.  

Dazed_and_C0nfused

I was hoping someone who has used the site for a claim might be able to shed some light on what happens and where you are taken if you click 'Accept and continue'. In the absence of that, I will have to ring HMRC for clarification.  

Clicking it won't tie you into anything, you could simply close the webpage down.

RoyalBlue_2

Just trawled back through this thread and found the following. If true (and I'll phone to check), it seems typical Government/HMRC incompetence and unnecessary bureaucracy, creating additional unnecessary work for both claimant and those processing the claim. Am I being too cynical in thinking Rishi Sunak wants to deter as many people as possible from claiming for earlier years? I bet MPs don't have to jump through so many hoops to get their home office expenses. 

RoyalBlue_2

Clicked 'Accept and continue' but will only allow a claim for current tax year and not 2020-21!