Working from home for last few years, can I cut taxes?

Saria

So I have been working from home for a few years now and never realised I might be able to cut taxes for this. Only just read an article on the BBC about it, but I'm not sure if it applies to me and how this works. 

I started working for a small company in 2014 and we had an office back then as there were a few people. However after a year or so everyone apart from me was let go, meaning I am the only employee left in the company. It was pointless to have an office for just me, so I've been working from home for a few years now. I use my own laptop for this, the only thing my boss paid for is my drawing tablet. 

But as I am home all the time for work, I obviously will be using more electricity and gas while working. The HMRC website mentions the following:

If you work from home on a regular basis, you may be able to claim tax relief on the money you’ve spent on business telephone calls or the extra cost of gas and electricity for your work area.

It is asking me how much I have spent, but I have no way of working this out...
So how would I be able to claim for anything? My boss doesn't cover any costs by the way. 

Thanks for any help or advice!

unholyangel

You don't mention, do they still have the office available? Or are you working from home because they got rid of the office? 

Saria

unholyangel said:

You don't mention, do they still have the office available? Or are you working from home because they got rid of the office? 

Oh sorry, there is no office. They were renting office space but stopped that when it was only me left as an employee. So my boss works from his home and I work from mine. 

Jeremy535897

You should meet the condition of being required to work from home, as there is nowhere else you can work. Expenses have to be wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of your duties. HMRC permit a claim of £6 a week (£4 before 6 April 2020) without evidence. If you want to claim more, you need to keep receipts and records. 

Saria

Jeremy535897 said:

You should meet the condition of being required to work from home, as there is nowhere else you can work. Expenses have to be wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of your duties. HMRC permit a claim of £6 a week (£4 before 6 April 2020) without evidence. If you want to claim more, you need to keep receipts and records. 

Thank you. I can't figure out how to claim for the £6 though? It is specifically asking me how much I have spent, but surely if I put in £0, I won't get anything? 

Jeremy535897

See https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2020/04/martin-lewis--working-from-home-due-to-coronavirus--claim-p6-wk-/

unholyangel

Saria said:

Jeremy535897 said:

You should meet the condition of being required to work from home, as there is nowhere else you can work. Expenses have to be wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of your duties. HMRC permit a claim of £6 a week (£4 before 6 April 2020) without evidence. If you want to claim more, you need to keep receipts and records. 

Thank you. I can't figure out how to claim for the £6 though? It is specifically asking me how much I have spent, but surely if I put in £0, I won't get anything? 

Its £4 per week for the 19/20 year. £6 a week only applies from 6 April 2020. You just multiply by the number of weeks you're working from home and put that figure in the box. 

macman

It's not £6, it's the tax you would pay on £6, so you'll get tax relief of £1.20. As pointed out above, to claim more you'll need to provide proper accounts: a share of gas, electricity, water, telephone and broadband, IT, stationery, etc