Working from home allowance

sghughes42

Quick question, am I right in thinking this can only be claimed once? I claim it (as simplified expenses allowance) for my self employed time, but with Covid I've also been WFH in my main job, and have a new contract which gives me two days a week WFH going forward.

Can I put in another claim for this, or would I need to do the more complex calculations using actual bills and trying to apportion costs?

Jeremy535897

To claim WFH as an employee for 2021/22, all you have to show is that you spent one day in the tax year working from home because your employer required you to do so, due to coronavirus, and your costs increased as a result. See:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/working-from-home-customers-may-be-eligible-to-claim-tax-relief-in-2021-to-2022

The simplified tax expenses specifically relate to the hours spent at home doing work for your self employed business, and the rate depends on the number of those hours. Logically, therefore, you can claim both, because they relate to different costs. If you are out rather than working from home, you don't need the fire on. If you work 7 hours a day Monday to Friday in your employment, you need the fire on, and you claim the £6 a week. If you work 4 hours a day Saturday and Sunday on your self employment, you need the fire on, and you claim the £10 a month.

If the employee WFH is not in your code, you will have to claim it. If you are self employed, you complete a tax return. That means you can't use the microservice to claim employee WFH, but must claim it on the tax return.

Personally I would feel somewhat uncomfortable claiming both unless I knew that the real costs of working from home in my employment amounted to at least £312 for 2021/22.

sghughes42

I do need to be careful working this out as I was furloughed for part of the time which makes it more complex. When I wasn't furloughed I don't think there has been a week I was 100% in the office and long periods I was 100% at home. My self employment has also been really busy as a result of covid so I've definitely been working I'd say 60 hours or more a week between the two.