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Martin Lewis: Working From Home Due To Coronavirus? Claim £6/week Tax Back On Extra Costs


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#1 mab01uk

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Posted 23 July 2020 - 10:31 PM

"If your employer requires you to work at home, you can – and have always been able to – claim for increased costs due to working from home, eg, heating and electricity.

Clearly, right now many firms have closed workplaces and that means across the UK millions of staff are temporarily required to work from home, and therefore are eligible to claim for increased costs. HMRC says it will consider claims from employees working at home due to coronavirus measures if their usual workplace is closed.

Yet apportioning these costs is tough. So instead you can, in simple terms, claim a rate of £6/week. You can claim more if your costs are higher, but it becomes a much more labour intensive process."

There are two ways to do this:-

https://blog.moneysa...--claim-p6-wk-/

 



#2 Cooper Mac

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Posted 24 July 2020 - 01:59 PM

I have considered this, but in effect, I'll be taking money away from the NHS and the government who are paying people's Furlough wages. I know that it is costing me money to work from home, but also, I'm not spending anywhere near as much as I was on Fuel (14 weeks between fill ups now, instead of 10 days!), plus I'm not going to pub / restaurants / attractions spending money, so in effect I'm better off!

 

Maybe if I'm still working from home in a years time, I'll think about it then!



#3 PoolGuy

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Posted 24 July 2020 - 05:08 PM

I agree Cooper Mac, it’s nice to see someone thinking about the bigger picture rather than just grabbing everything they can. My partner will save £6k a year and get 3 hours of her day back by not travelling into the City, claiming a few extra ££’s from the pot seems a bit short sighted.

#4 Cooper Mac

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Posted 24 July 2020 - 08:09 PM

Wow PoolGuy, 3 hours a day gained by your partner is worth more than money can buy! That is truly a great result, unless that gives you less time to work on your cars! ??

#5 sonikk4

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Posted 25 July 2020 - 05:25 PM

I look at it like this. If like me you work in an industry thats been heavily impacted by this pandemic and due to the cuts your company has had to make to try and survive, then that little bit of extra cost you incur at home by working at home is dwarfed by the fact you can keep your job. 

 

Then you weigh up the other positives. Reduced travelling costs, zero travelling, more family time due to the zero travelling, happier working environment etc etc etc.

 

Now if you are self employed its moot as you would have claimed for these costs if you had registered your home address as your business.

 

My wife would love to work from home full time. She did for a while as her boss made the call to close the office and she loved. Even more so with me being on furlough so bringing her tea and biscuits etc.



#6 PoolGuy

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Posted 25 July 2020 - 06:03 PM

Wow PoolGuy, 3 hours a day gained by your partner is worth more than money can buy! That is truly a great result, unless that gives you less time to work on your cars!

And it's looking like she'll be asked to WFH permanently, they've already confirmed that she won't be back in the office this year.



#7 sonikk4

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Posted 25 July 2020 - 07:41 PM

This is another side to this as well. IF your company insists you work from home then its incumbent on them to make sure your infrastructure is suitable for works purposes.

 

I'm positive there will need to be a risk assessment and also what about your home insurance?? Worth checking into.



#8 PoolGuy

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Posted 26 July 2020 - 06:10 AM

Good point sonikk, if you weren’t working from home before Covid, you’ll need to do a risk assessment (HSE provide a checklist) and your insurance company need to know. Unless you’re having work related visitors to your house it’s unlikely to increase your premium, but if you are you’ll need public liability cover too. (All assuming that those who were working from home on an occasional or permanent basis had proper cover before Covid)

I expect this is similar to car insurance when mods are done, lots of people won’t have proper cover.

#9 mab01uk

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Posted 29 December 2020 - 06:08 PM

Martin Lewis update says:- "A staggering 1.4 million people have claimed. By the way, if you think "I don't feel I deserve it" – you could always claim it and donate it to a charity that does."

 

 



#10 mab01uk

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Posted 30 December 2020 - 12:23 PM

"To process these claims, in October 2020, HMRC set up a new dedicated working-from-home microservice that will automatically apply the whole 2020/21 tax year's relief via your tax code – making claiming the whole amount very easy. Anyone making a claim for this tax year, who hasn't already put in a claim, can use it.

In fact, you can actually use it to claim just a smidge before this tax year too. You can use it to make a claim since lockdown started on 23 March 2020 – just put that date in. Do that and you'll get a refund for the whole of this tax year (which started 6 April 2020) and two weeks extra on top.

You'll need to have your Government Gateway ID to do it. If you don't have one, you can create one as part of the process.

Don't expect to receive a cheque for this money though. It is done by altering your tax code, which is what indicates to your employer how much tax to take off your payslip – it should be amended in your personal tax account within a couple of days. The result will be less tax taken off each month for the rest of the year which means you'll take home more.

Those who are employed but do their tax via self-assessment each year (usually those with higher incomes or more complicated tax affairs) can't use the microservice."

https://www.gov.uk/t...working-at-home

 

If you already have a Government Gateway ID and password I would say it takes less than 2 minutes effort and if someone is wealthy enough to not want it, they could claim and give to a charity or other deserving cause....

 

(Tax relief of £6 a week equates to a gain of £1.20 a week (£60 a year) for a basic 20% rate taxpayer, £2.40 a week (£125 a year) for a higher 40% rate taxpayer).


Edited by mab01uk, 30 December 2020 - 12:43 PM.





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