Working from home tax relief

Dazed_and_C0nfused

myeash said:

MattMattMattUK said:

myeash said:

Am I correct in thinking because I do Self Assessment I can only claim WFH when I do my SA? That's what gov.uk seems to be saying to me! I started WFH on the 23rd March 2020 and was back in the office in September 2020 until December. I've been now WFH since 5th January and not sure when I'm going back. So, can I claim for anything now or do I wait until I do my SA for 20/21? I didn't claim or anything  in my SA19/20.

You are correct that because you complete a self-assessment you need to claim via that. You can claim in the 20/21 tax year when you submit the self assessment, you can do this from 06/04/21 onwards. The allowance or permittable expenses would be deducted from any tax you owe as detailed in the online guidance. 

Thank you for replying. I saw Martin's update yesterday to his 12/4/20 article about making WFH claim by 5.4.21 so I thought perhaps I'd not done something I should have done by now! I think I have now understood it to be that he is suggesting to act now as the 'microservice' may not be available once this tax year ends, but that applies to those people who don't do SA. Am I right?

The microservice is just a mechanism to make life easier for HMRC and the people claiming.

A claim for 2019:20 needs to be made by 5 April 2024.

A claim for 2020:21 needs to be made by 5 April 2025.

You have until 31 January 2022 to amend your 2019:20 Self Assessment return (if you think it is worth the trouble for that tax year) and if you miss that deadline you would have to make a claim for overpayment relief.

unforeseen

unholyangel said:

unforeseen said:

If employers are continuing to expect their employees to work from home in the new tax year, as mine is, then the tax relief is valid.
My company do not intend to re-assess the WFH policy until the final relaxation in June. 

Your employer doesn't give you WFH tax relief though. Only HMRC can give that, and only HMRC can decide the rules on it. 

I never said the employer did. If the employer still wants their staff to work from home in the new tax year then it means that the employee can claim the tax relief through HMRC

ETA: according to Martin, he's asked them if they'll continue it and they haven't answered him (he thinks they haven't decided yet). 

It will continue regardless if the employee qualifies for it, the same as it has done for numerous years beforehand. I.E. they are WFH if their employer says they need to. 
The policy is there so I've no idea why Martin thinks he needs to ask if it will continue. Maybe he erroneously thinks it was something brought in especially for Covid or the rules were changed to cover it. Nothing could be further from the truth, the rules didn't get changed because they didn't need to. 

Gnit2021

Hi, I have a full-time job and working from home for the last 6 months. I also, have a property which is privately rented.
I am not Self-employed, but as I have a rental income, I fill-in my Self-assessment every year to pay tax on the rental income.
I went to apply for working from home tax relief, but since I fill-in SA tax return, it won't let me continue with the form.
How/can I claim working from home tax relief?
Thanks

68ComebackSpecial

Gnit2021 said:

Hi, I have a full-time job and working from home for the last 6 months. I also, have a property which is privately rented.
I am not Self-employed, but as I have a rental income, I fill-in my Self-assessment every year to pay tax on the rental income.
I went to apply for working from home tax relief, but since I fill-in SA tax return, it won't let me continue with the form.
How/can I claim working from home tax relief?
Thanks

Via your self assessment for 2020/2021.

unholyangel

unforeseen said:

unholyangel said:

unforeseen said:

If employers are continuing to expect their employees to work from home in the new tax year, as mine is, then the tax relief is valid.
My company do not intend to re-assess the WFH policy until the final relaxation in June. 

Your employer doesn't give you WFH tax relief though. Only HMRC can give that, and only HMRC can decide the rules on it. 

I never said the employer did. If the employer still wants their staff to work from home in the new tax year then it means that the employee can claim the tax relief through HMRC

ETA: according to Martin, he's asked them if they'll continue it and they haven't answered him (he thinks they haven't decided yet). 

It will continue regardless if the employee qualifies for it, the same as it has done for numerous years beforehand. I.E. they are WFH if their employer says they need to. 
The policy is there so I've no idea why Martin thinks he needs to ask if it will continue. Maybe he erroneously thinks it was something brought in especially for Covid or the rules were changed to cover it. Nothing could be further from the truth, the rules didn't get changed because they didn't need to. 

Why would they announce they'd accept facilities weren't available when the workplace was closed or numbers had to be limited or why did they stop asking to see a copy of people's contract (to check home was a workplace), if they didn't change their rules due to covid? 

Again, if it's immaterial, why do they ask during the application process if you're WFH due to covid? 

Why wouldn't they answer requests (from Martin and some professional accounting bodies) on whether it will continue? 

And more importantly...why, if it's continuing into the new year, have HMRC issued codes (to those WFH due to covid) for next year with no relief in it? They don't normally do that, any relief you claim for the current year will normally be automatically carried forward in your code. 

They also relaxed the rules for employers reimbursing expenditure (and they did this before relaxing the rules for tax relief). Because normally your employer could only pay you tax free if you were WFH under formal contractual arrangements regularly. 

unforeseen

I don't believe covid even comes into when you complete SA. Why they ask on the microsite is anybody's guess. Maybe it's because the. Covid reason is 'special' reason, treated as a one off and it's easier (cheaper for the treasury) to make people re-apply if it still applies rather than roll it over. You still have people applying for it where it is not Covid related. 
What happens if you say no to the question? Does anybody know? 

unholyangel

unforeseen said:

I don't believe covid even comes into when you complete SA. Why they ask on the microsite is anybody's guess. Maybe it's because the. Covid reason is 'special' reason, treated as a one off and it's easier (cheaper for the treasury) to make people re-apply if it still applies rather than roll it over. You still have people applying for it where it is not Covid related. 
What happens if you say no to the question? Does anybody know? 

Self assessment they're liable for any incorrect submission because they're assessing themselves. HMRC assess those not in SA (and have to approve claims for expenses) so it would be a bit backwards for them to approve then try take it off you again saying it was wrong. Or least would give you an argument against them doing so. 

If you say no, I expect it would be dealt with under normal rules although obviously don't know for sure. As in, you can claim for previous years etc but they'll probably want to see your contract. 

Michymatty

Hi There. 
I claim for the WFH tax relief and received it in the month of Mar 21, however the following month it was taken away from me via my Universal Credit payments and I ended up receiving less. I claimed the WFH tax to assist with paying for the extra bills accumulated over that period and in the end spent it but now being penalised for spending it. What's the point? 

Jeremy535897

Earnings are taken into account for calculating UC, and so are expenses. If you had not claimed WFH, your UC would have been reduced by more. See: https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/universal-credit/guidance/entitlement-to-uc/what-is-income-for-uc

unholyangel

Jeremy535897 said:

Earnings are taken into account for calculating UC, and so are expenses. If you had not claimed WFH, your UC would have been reduced by more. See: https://revenuebenefits.org.uk/universal-credit/guidance/entitlement-to-uc/what-is-income-for-uc

I think you've misread the page. Or made a typo in your post. 

It is also possible for claimants to deduct any allowable work expenses they incur, which are not reimbursed by their employer, from their earned income. This will reduce their income for UC purposes. This was confirmed via a parliamentary question in 2018. However, the process for doing this is not clear. We advise that claimants put a note in their journal for their work coach and if DWP refuse to make the deduction then a mandatory reconsideration should be requested (for each assessment period affected) as the first stage of an appeal.

It does also say:

Repayments of income tax and national insurance contributions received by a person from HMRC in respect of a tax year in which the person was in paid work are also treated as employed earnings (unless they are already accounted for as self-employed earnings)

It sounds like the tax refund should increase their income for UC but the dwp should allow a deduction for work expenses which should cancel it out. If the tax refund wasn't for work expenses then it would reduce their award.