Working From Home Tax Relief Date From

Lad

Hi,

I understand from reading Martin's Blog that it's possible to enter the date of the first lockdown as the date to start claiming tax relief from. I actually started a week earlier so was wondering if anyone knows or has entered a date prior to when the first lockdown was announced. Does it go down a different route and the questions asked are different or is it the same as if you entered the date of the first lockdown?

Thanks

spiro

If your employer instructed you to work from home from a date before the 1st lockdown then this is the date you use. That is what happened with me andf the tax office was quite happy with that. I just need to remember to renew it at the begining of April.

Lad

Thanks spiro. I ended up doing just that and it was all straightforward. Reading Martin's Blog seemed to make it sound like it would be handled differently as it said that the criteria applied if claiming before first lockdown would be more strict.

zzzt

Excuse the interruption, I figure I can save making another thread since there is one here.

I've worked from home since March 2020. In October I claimed the work from home tax rebate (only took 5 minutes online) and received a letter saying my tax code had changed. But in none of my monthly payslips since then have I had any extra money, and my tax code has not changed in them.

Do I need to ask my employer to do something? Or is this something that will sort itself out at the next tax year in April? Or did the request not go through? Should I try again?

MattMattMattUK

zzzt said:

Excuse the interruption, I figure I can save making another thread since there is one here.

I've worked from home since March 2020. In October I claimed the work from home tax rebate (only took 5 minutes online) and received a letter saying my tax code had changed. But in none of my monthly payslips since then have I had any extra money, and my tax code has not changed in them.

Do I need to ask my employer to do something? Or is this something that will sort itself out at the next tax year in April? Or did the request not go through? Should I try again?

Your employer should have received a coding notice to change your tax code, if they have not changed your code in their payroll system them they will still be processing the tax the same as before. You can ask them to update this and you can show them the letter you recieved yourself if they did not recieve one.

What is your current code and what did the letter say your tax code has changed to? You have not lost out though, having claimed the allowance HMRC will balance anything at the end of the tax year which needs balancing. Also to remember, in case you are not aware, the amount is the tax relief on £6.00 pw, so £1.20 per week for a basic rate taxpayer is the amount you will pay less in tax. 

Beduffshirl

I've had an e-mail to log into my Gov Uk account as my tax code is changing. It looks like the WFH Tax relief hasn't carried over to next year. My tax code now is 1269 and it says next year will be 1244. Any ideas please?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Why do you think it would remain?

No one knows yet what the situation will be in the next tax year.  If things continue as they are I guess new claims are going to be necessary.  For those still WFH due to Covid-19.

Beduffshirl

If I'm back in the office in 8 weeks it will be a miracle !!

MattMattMattUK

Beduffshirl said:

If I'm back in the office in 8 weeks it will be a miracle !!

How would HMRC know that, unless you notified them?

Beduffshirl

I notified them when I started working from home and I haven't told them I'm not working from home. When I stop working from home I will tell them and that is when my tax code should change back.

zzzt

MattMattMattUK said:

What is your current code and what did the letter say your tax code has changed to? You have not lost out though, having claimed the allowance HMRC will balance anything at the end of the tax year which needs balancing. Also to remember, in case you are not aware, the amount is the tax relief on £6.00 pw, so £1.20 per week for a basic rate taxpayer is the amount you will pay less in tax. 

In the letter from HMR&C it says my tax code changed from 1239L to 1272L. However, on all of my payslips it says 1250L. I suppose I'll just wait for it to sort itself out in April.