Working at SOMEONE ELSE'S home...?

randers

Hi. My son who is working from home is hoping to work from a room in our home instead of his own - his being unsuitable for various reasons. Is anyone clued-up enough to know the tax position for that, ie would he or we be able to claim tax relief for the heating/lighting/internet etc? Thanks.

Jeremy535897

Only if he pays you for the use of it, as well as meeting the other conditions (required to work from home by employer, for example)..

Grumpy_chap

What ACTUAL costs will the OP incur because their son is working in the spare room compared to if he was not?
Some costs are not variable in that way, for example, if there is internet at the property, most tariffs are not limited to how much use is made of the service.
Some other costs may vary, for example if the heating is on all day when the house would have been empty otherwise.

justworriedabit

randers said:

Hi. My son who is working from home is hoping to work from a room in our home instead of his own - his being unsuitable for various reasons. Is anyone clued-up enough to know the tax position for that, ie would he or we be able to claim tax relief for the heating/lighting/internet etc? Thanks.

How much is he paying you?

randers

justworriedabit said:

randers said:

Hi. My son who is working from home is hoping to work from a room in our home instead of his own - his being unsuitable for various reasons. Is anyone clued-up enough to know the tax position for that, ie would he or we be able to claim tax relief for the heating/lighting/internet etc? Thanks.

How much is he paying you?

Nothing - I'm helping my son and not looking to take any money. As for what will it cost me - additional energy bills for his employer's business to be conducted there rather than on their own premises. If there are no standard 'x% of specific bills' for example that can be claimed by me as tax relief, that's fine, I just felt it worth asking if anyone knew.

Jeremy535897

He has to claim, and if he has no additional costs, there is no claim he can make.

tripled

If he works from home at his employer's request for just one day, he can claim the flat rate allowance for the full year, which generally works out at about 60 quid off. What he does the rest of the year is of no matter.

https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2020/04/martin-lewis--working-from-home-due-to-coronavirus--claim-p6-wk-/?_ga=2.188107112.1782566808.1617479934-1516782624.1589019796

It is possible to instead claim specifically for the actual expenses incurred, but then he would need to evidence his costs and it is seldom worth the hassle.

Jeremy535897

It is implicit that you can't claim when you live for free in someone else's home, in my opinion.

unholyangel

Jeremy535897 said:

It is implicit that you can't claim when you live for free in someone else's home, in my opinion.

I would say it's express rather than implicit....given the wording of s336 of ITEPA. If the employee is obliged to incur and pay it as a holder of the employment. 

If they don't need to pay it then it fails that step. 

Jeremy535897

unholyangel said:

Jeremy535897 said:

It is implicit that you can't claim when you live for free in someone else's home, in my opinion.

I would say it's express rather than implicit....given the wording of s336 of ITEPA. If the employee is obliged to incur and pay it as a holder of the employment. 

If they don't need to pay it then it fails that step. 

The reason I say it is implicit rather than explicit is that you can already claim for 52 weeks if you only meet the conditions for 1 day, which means the strict reading of ITEPA you quote is not being applied in practice.

unholyangel

Jeremy535897 said:

unholyangel said:

Jeremy535897 said:

It is implicit that you can't claim when you live for free in someone else's home, in my opinion.

I would say it's express rather than implicit....given the wording of s336 of ITEPA. If the employee is obliged to incur and pay it as a holder of the employment. 

If they don't need to pay it then it fails that step. 

The reason I say it is implicit rather than explicit is that you can already claim for 52 weeks if you only meet the conditions for 1 day, which means the strict reading of ITEPA you quote is not being applied in practice.

Well the section of ITEPA doesn't set the rules for amounts, just what type of expense is allowable. 

HMRC only gave the full year because it would cost them less than it would to deal with the administration of millions of claims being made every few weeks when they have more important things to be doing and it wouldn't be value for money for the public.....if they were spending £20+ in wages/overheads to process a claim for 4-5 weeks WFH relief.