Rising energy costs and the need to INCREASE TAX RELIEF FOR WORKING FROM HOME

Chowdene

frugalmacdugal said:

Hi,

going in to office may incur travelling and meal costs though.

It wouldn't, I live very close to HQ but my role has to be home-based. 

consequences

Jeremy535897 said:

More help here:

https://www.litrg.org.uk/latest-news/news/220629-how-working-home-tax-rules-can-help-your-energy-costs

My WFH can be heavy on the electric as it is technology based.

If I install an electric meter (proper wired meter not plug in) which records kwh usage in my office and record those numbers agasint the costs from the supplier, do you think that would satisfy HMRC?
Such meters are only £20 which I'd imagine might also be claimed against.

It would seem more accurate than recording average hours etc from the whole house meter.

I've been reading HMRC advice on things such as broadband, where I proposed to my employeer that my current connection of 40mbps at £35 be moved to 80mbps at £50, I dedicate 40mbps for home and 40mbps for work, and they pay the £15 difference.
Seems reasonable?
But it seems to fall foul of the rules for claiming broandband expenses, which appear clearly outdated. Those rules also dont support claiming for a second dedicated line for WFH use (if employer requires, employer pays), but I'm sure people do it anyway and claim.

Jeremy535897

I am not sure how you would isolate the mains supply (lighting and sockets) to a bedroom, but if you can, I don't see why it shouldn't work, and you should be able to claim the cost of the meter. Whether you can do it yourself legally is another matter, as it probably wouldn't fall within the permitted work in Part P of the Building Regulations. Beware of claiming that the entire use of the bedroom you use as an office is business though, as then your main residence relief will be restricted on a sale of the property.

You can claim the business proportion of any expenses like telephone and internet. There are no set rules. Be prepared to justify your apportionment between business and private where it is not obvious. HMRC have long resisted claims for things that cannot be split between business and private, so on telephone, for example, the line rent is a fixed sum that has to be paid whoever you call, but the calls themselves are generally either work related or private. The rent of a dedicated line used only for business should be allowable, if it is not used at all for private purposes.

Albermarle

When I worked from home, with some travel away as well, the company was happy to pay all costs for a separate broadband line and a mobile phone. It was a large company, and they were clear that these could be paid without any tax liability to the employee, even though it was known that inevitably there would be some personal use involved. I just assumed that with more and more people working from home, ( even before Covid), that HMRC had just decided it was not worth bothering about minor amounts of benefit from personal use of necessary items needed for business use.

The situation with a calls landline to the house was different, and I had to pay some of that myself.

Bossworld

Albermarle said:

When I worked from home, with some travel away as well, the company was happy to pay all costs for a separate broadband line and a mobile phone. It was a large company, and they were clear that these could be paid without any tax liability to the employee, even though it was known that inevitably there would be some personal use involved. I just assumed that with more and more people working from home, ( even before Covid), that HMRC had just decided it was not worth bothering about minor amounts of benefit from personal use of necessary items needed for business use.

The situation with a calls landline to the house was different, and I had to pay some of that myself.

Read through this thread with interest. I get nothing these days in the public sector (though was able to get the £1.20 in the 20/21 tax year).

But in the private sector, as a partial home worker pre-pandemic, I used to get 3/5s of a reasonable contribution towards home broadband and energy.

I'd love to know if that company scrapped the policy eventually (I left in late 2020) - you'd assume so in this hybrid world.

groundhogger

Flipping this to parents of children working from home. My adult son works from home and so adds to my energy costs. Can I claim any reduction in energy bills for this?

TheMilkmansDad

groundhogger said:

Flipping this to parents of children working from home. My adult son works from home and so adds to my energy costs. Can I claim any reduction in energy bills for this?

No, but you can up their rent to cover costs.

sheramber

groundhogger said:

Flipping this to parents of children working from home. My adult son works from home and so adds to my energy costs. Can I claim any reduction in energy bills for this?

Why would your energy supplier ive you a discount becuase you use more due to your son working from home?