"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.