Anyone living in the UK who has worked from home due to Covid restrictions can claim back money as of today.
The work from home message in England was just announced with masks also making a comeback south of the border.
However for people living in Scotland, these are restrictions that have remained in place since March 2020 and as a result, Scots can now claim back around £125 or more in tax for the entire tax year.
Claiming back money for extra costs such as working from home due to the increase in heat and electricity usage is not a new thing however HMRC confirmed that those who've worked from home - even for just one day in 2021 - during Covid can put in a request for tax relief.
Claims can be backdated so if you worked from home last year because of the pandemic, you may be eligible for £250 tax relief.
Your boss must have required you to work from home for you to put in a claim, meaning millions of people are likely to be entitled to tax back.
You must also have incurred extra costs from working at home and those who have been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace, or have been pinged by the NHS app, are eligible as well.
How to claim back tax for working from home
The tax relief for this year is applied directly to your salary, so you won’t receive the money in a cash lump sum.
How much tax relief you get also depends on the rate of tax you pay.
You can claim tax relief on £6 a week for the current tax year, which equates to:
- £1.20 a week for a basic 20% rate taxpayer (£62.40 a year)
- £2.40 a week for a higher 40% rate taxpayer (£124.80 a year)
- £2.70 a week for a top 45% rate taxpayer (£140.40 a year)
You can backdate your claim for the last four tax years, which run from April to April each year.
If you’re backdating a claim, this will be sent to you as a lump sum through your salary.
To apply for previous years, you must meet the same circumstances - so your employer must have required you to work from home and you experienced increases costs because of this.
They also must have not already covered your expenses and sadly, you can't claim if you're self-employed and you’ll instead need to claim expenses on your tax return.
Workers can find out more and make a claim here via the Gov.uk website website.
To claim the money, you'll need a Government Gateway user ID and password however if you don't have one, creating an account takes about 10 minutes.
It works best if you have:
Your National Insurance number
A recent payslip or P60 or a valid UK passport
