Last chance: Had to work from home at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic? Claim tax relief worth up to £140

You've always been able to claim tax relief for the increased costs of working from home (such as heat, water and electricity). But for the specific 2020/21 and 2021/22 tax years (6 April 2020 to 5 April 2022), the rules were extended to include those who had to work from home due to Covid-19 restrictions.

As with many other tax allowances, you can only claim back four tax years before the current one – meaning the deadline to claim for the 2020/21 tax year is Saturday 5 April. You DON'T need to use a third-party tax agent or claims firm – we've got step-by-step guidance to help you do it yourself.

Note: For the tax years from 6 April 2022 onwards, new rules to claim working from home tax relief are much stricter. We've more on this below.

Who's eligible for the Covid-19 working from home tax relief

To claim the tax relief you must have had, and declare that you had, specific extra costs due to working from home. Reasons for needing to work from home include:

• The UK or your specific area was under lockdown.

• Your workplace was closed.

• You were told to isolate by NHS Test and Trace.

• You were self-isolating after being pinged by the NHS app.

For the specific years in question – 2020/21 and 2021/22 – you can claim up to the entire year's worth of relief even if you only worked from home some of the time.

Who isn't eligible

You can't claim the tax relief if:

• You chose to work from home (even for Covid-19 related reasons).

• You didn't incur extra costs (though most people likely will have).

• Your employer has already covered your additional costs. For example, employers could have paid you an extra amount tax-free each week to cover any working from home expenses during the pandemic. But as many firms were struggling, they often didn't do this (and didn't have to).

How much you can get depends on your income tax band

Apportioning extra costs, such as heating and electricity, is tough. Due to that, there is essentially a flat rate of £6 a week available to claim in tax relief for 2020/21 and 2021/22, which you don't need to provide receipts for. This equates to a GAIN of…

• £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).

What if you had more than £6 a week of increased costs? If you believe you had higher costs, you can claim more, but you will need evidence of the cost increases and must be able to apportion these extra costs specifically to the fact you were working from home – a much more laborious process.

You can claim directly with HMRC – you DON'T need to use a third party tax agent or claims firm

You can claim the tax relief directly from HMRC for free using its online form, so long as you didn't file self-assessment tax returns for the years in question. If you did, you'll instead have to write to HMRC to correct your tax return/s.

If you're unsure whether you've already claimed the relief for 2020/21 and 2021/22, check if you have any old HMRC paperwork from the time. It told us evidence of claims should be listed under 'Other expenses' on letters about your tax code, tax calculations and annual tax summaries. You should also be able to check this online in your personal tax account.

However, if you're struggling to find this out, you can still make a claim using the steps below. If it turns out you've already been reimbursed, HMRC will simply reject your application and send you a letter letting you know.

Here's how to submit your claim to HMRC:

1. Go to Gov.uk and log in with your Government Gateway ID. If you don't have an account, you'll be given the option to create one.

2. When asked what tax year you want to claim for, select '6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021'. You'll be able to claim for other tax years (if applicable) later on in the form.

3. Enter your employer's name, PAYE reference and your job title during the 2020/21 tax year. If you're not sure of these, you can find them on your personal tax account – log in using your Government Gateway ID and password, select 'Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and click 'View and print Income Tax and employment history'.

4. Over the next few pages, you'll be asked if you want to claim for flat rate expenses, uniform costs, using your own vehicle, travel and overnight expenses and/or professional fees and subscriptions. If you only want to claim for working from home during Covid, select 'No' to all of these.

5. The crucial page is the one titled 'Using your home as an office' (see screenshot below). Here, you'll be asked if you want to claim relief on expenses from using your home as an office. Select 'Yes'.
   
   Then, to claim the relief for the full tax year, enter £312 in the 'Amount paid by you' field – this represents the flat £6 a week rate for the full 52 weeks.
   
   If you know your exact expenses and they were higher than this, you can enter that amount instead, but you'll then have to provide evidence of this (such as receipts).
   
   Under 'Amount repaid to you by your employer', provided your employer didn't cover any of your expenses for working from home, enter £0. If they partially covered your expenses, enter the amount you were given.
   

   

6. Next, you'll be asked if you want to claim for other allowable expenses. If you're just claiming the working from home relief, select 'No'.

7. You'll then be asked if you have received additional amounts from your employer. Again, provided your employer didn't cover any of your expenses, you can select 'No' here.

8. The form will then show you an overview of your 'Total expenses claimed'. If you're just claiming the working from home relief for the 2020/21 tax year, this should show £312. At this stage, you can also claim for the 2021/22 tax year if you want to – select 'Add another tax year' and go through the same steps as above.

9. You'll then see a page letting you add 'Supporting evidence' for your claim. If you're claiming relief on £6 a week, you can leave this blank. If your expenses were more, this is where you provide evidence, such as receipts and bills.

10. Finally, you'll be asked where you want your cheque to be sent. You can choose to have it go to the address attached to your Government Gateway account or another address.

Different rules apply for later tax years

For the tax years from 6 April 2022 onwards, the eligibility rules are much stricter. HMRC says most people who have worked from home post-April 2022 (or currently work from home) are no longer eligible to claim this relief.

For example, you CAN'T claim if the only reason you're required to work from home is coronavirus, even if it's because you've tested positive. Nor are you eligible if you choose to work from home for part of the week because your employer offers 'hybrid working' – even if this is written into your employment contract.

For 2022/23 onwards, you can only claim if:

• Your employer doesn't have the facilities you need for your job on its premises (for example, there's no office at all).

• The nature of your job requires you to live so far from your employer's premises that you can't reasonably be expected to travel there daily (for example, you're an area manager for north east England but the only office is in London).

• You can show evidence of why you had to work from home. This could be a copy of your employment contract or a letter from your employer explaining why you have to or had to work from home.

If this applies to you – which it won't for most ­– you can claim on Gov.uk.