Can we still be paid £6 a week for working from home?

During the COVID pandemic the government relaxed the conditions to enable those working from home to be paid £6 a week tax free by their employer, or, where that was not paid by the employer, they could claim relief for £6 a week against their employment income for a tax refund from HMRC.

Those relaxed rules applied for 2020/21 and 2021/22. Many employers and employees may not be aware that from 6 April 2022 the rules reverted to the strict statutory position. Employees can claim tax relief if they have to work from home under a homeworking agreement, for example because:

• their job requires them to live far away from the office,
• their employer does not have an office, or
• the office is closed every Friday and employees are required to work from home that day.

Tax relief cannot be claimed if the employee chooses to work from home.This includes if:

• your employment contract lets you work from home some or all of the time
• you work from home because of coronavirus (COVID-19)
• your employer has an office, but you cannot go there sometimes because it’s full

What you can claim for

You can only claim for things to do with your work, such as:

• business phone calls
• gas and electricity for your work area

You cannot claim for things that you use for both private and business use, such as rent or broadband access.

How much you can claim

You can either claim tax relief on:

• £6 a week from 6 April 2020 (for previous tax years the rate is £4 a week) - you will not need to keep evidence of your extra costs
• the exact amount of extra costs you’ve incurred above the weekly amount - you’ll need evidence such as receipts, bills or contracts

You’ll get tax relief based on the rate at which you pay tax.

You’ll usually get tax relief through a change to your tax code and can claim for this tax year and the 4 previous tax years.

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