Working at home

greendude

On an unrelated webchat with HMRC ("is there anything else I can help you with?") I discovered that as my 'employer' (I receive a monthly 'honorarium' from a charity, on which I pay tax by deduction from my pension) does not provide me with a work space, I can claim for working from home (this is not a COVID related enquiry). I do an annual self assessment, but can find no sections on previous returns in which to claim, nor advice on what to claim. Can anyone help?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

It is part of the employment page.  You need to ensure you have tailored your return correctly to see the relevant box.

You could look at the paper return on gov.uk first to see what options you have when you do it correctly online.

unholyangel

Does it actually qualify as a paid employment? 

greendude

According to the webchat HMRC rep (who advised me to include it on my self assessment), yes.

oldbikebloke

greendude said:

According to the webchat HMRC rep (who advised me to include it on my self assessment), yes.

HMRC call centre staff are generalists, not specialists and only know what they look up on a screen. Their ability to input the right search term for that look up varies enormously.

So you have a written contract OF employment because to claim working from home, you must be an employee with a contract. An honorarium does not sound like an employee, for one thing is it above national minimum wage for the hours you work?
 
The working from home, no questions asked, allowance is (from 6 April 20) £6 per week cost, ie a £62.40 per year tax refund for a basic rate taxpayer.... that also assumes you have paid at least £62.40 in tax in the first place or it will be pro rated to what you have paid. 
https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home

if you want to claim more than £6 you will need to have detailed workings to show actual costs and how you apportion those between business and personal use. If your tax return was then selected for random review you can expect to be comprehensively challenged over such a claim so it has better stand up to scrutiny - ie keep your bills and workings.