Working from home and income tax

neillv6

Hi. My girlfriend works from home as an out of hours social worker/approved mental health professional. 

 Her home is essentially her office. On occasions she has to work at the office in her local authority council  building. She has to work from home on the out of hours as the office is closed from 5pm weekdays and all weekend. 

She uses her house phone for work purposes only, no personal calls are made on it as she uses her mobile phone for that. She also has broadband which is predominantly used for her office work. 

I’m trying to work out if there is anything that she can claim in relation to income tax etc? Her employer (local authority) don’t pay anything towards anything other than her standard wages. 

Thanks 

elsien

Do her employer not provide her with a work phone?

What does her employment contract say about her place of work?

With regards to the broadband, I am a home worker so I’m using the Wi-Fi 9-5,most days for work purposes However, I don’t think I would say that the broadband is primarily for work  because I’d have it anyway whether I was working from home or not.

 I use it for all the Internet usage on my mobile phone, I use it for streaming, I use it for my personal laptop. I would have broadband anyway, and there are no  extra costs for the work usage. 

LinLui

In the post-pandemic world HMRC have made it almost impossible to be worth claiming in these circumstances - I know because I am in a similar position. For the very little amount I could claim there were so many hoops that I simply don't bother now. It is, however, one of the "planks" on the recent pay claims by the unions for that very reason. 

She shouldn't be paying for work calls - I am very surprised that she does not have a mobile phone from the employer, especially given her role. Broadband costs for normal office usage are minimal, but I would agree with @elsien that it is unlikely that her usage for work is so significant that it outweighs any other use. If she genuinely uses it for nothing else and it is very costly, then perhaps she should consider removing it and telling her employer that her mobile will require sufficient data to cover her usage as she has no personal need for wi-fi / streaming etc. 

Bookworm105

Broadband - sorry but there is a concept called duality of purpose. If the provision of an item is capable of both private and work use, then you cannot claim it as there is no way to split the cost between work and private purpose for having the item provided.

If, on the other hand, you have a second broadband line in the property, and that is used wholly for work, then that can be claimed. 

Call costs for work are obviously work costs and can be claimed (assuming you keep the itemised bill for your records and claim only that call cost, not any element of line rental or other fixed cost). 
However, sorry but the line rental for the house phone is caught by duality of purpose and cannot be claimed since there is only one phone line, and despite the mobile, that one line is capable of private use.

If the contract of employment requires her to work at home then she could claim the WFH allowance of £6.00 per week (so £1.20 per week tax refund for a basic rate taxpayer). Note carefully, if her contract of employment simply allows her to choose to work at home or the office then she cannot claim it. 
Claim tax relief for your job expenses: Working from home - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
You say she "has" occasions when she uses the office and occasions when she does not. You need to be very clear on her circumstances before you claim for that. If, for example, she works shifts that overlap the office being open then it comes down to requires or chooses?

Don't bother with trying to work out if you can claim more than £6 per week based on actual extra costs from being at home. The calculation can be very complex and open to challenge.