How to claim Working From Home expenses for employees

We like to help people with their tax regardless of whether you are with us or doing your own accounts. With this in mind, as we approach the deadline for submitting self assessment (January 31st) we wanted to remind you that you can claim a working from home allowance as expenses on your tax return, if you do not already get paid an allowance from your employer.

This allowance is a flat rate figure that is accepted as the ‘standard’ amount and is £6 per week which translates as £26 per month. Form P87 is used to claim this.

Evidence has not been required during the pandemic for these claims, such as how many days people worked from home vs the office, but there are signs that this has changed for this current tax year.

From April 2022, HMRC are going to need the pre pandemic criteria to be met. This means that this is the last tax return where you can put in for £26 a month, if you are working from home, without any evidence being required. Because of course, this deadline at the end of January relates to the tax year that ended in the early part of April, as part of the 21/22 tax year.

For the tax year we are currently in, which started in April 2022, you will need to meet the following criteria, and of course, your costs may be more than £26 a month given the increase in heating costs for example. You would need to supply evidence for this. Here are the criteria:
• substantial duties of the employee are performed at the employee’s home
• there are no facilities at the employer’s premises for the employee to work
• the employee is required to work from home by their employer
• the employee has no choice about whether they work at home or not.

If you have any questions about this, or about your self assessment tax return, please get in touch, even if you are not a client via email David@theaccountancypractice.com or ring us on 01763 257882