If your company requires you to work from home, you are – and have always been able to – able to claim for increased costs, such as heating and electricity. With most people now working from home due to the lock-down, now is the perfect opportunity to claim some money back to offset the hike in your energy bills.
How do I claim the extra £6 a week?
You can claim even if you are employed and on a full-time salary, and there are two ways you can do this, and they are as follows:
- You can ask your employer to pay you an extra £6 a week tax-free. Your employer can pay you up to this amount, and all of what they give you is exempt from tax, so you will get the full amount.
- If your employer will not pay for your expenses for your extra costs of running your home during isolation, you can ask for the amount to be deducted from your taxable income. So essentially, you will claim tax relief on £6 per week. I’ll explain how to do this below.
How do I claim the tax relief?
Fill out either an online P87 form through your Government Gateway account or fill in a postal one (for which you will need your national insurance number).
The section you need to fill in is titled Using Your Home as an Office. If you are not eligible for tax relief in other areas, you can leave the other sections blank.
If you have noticed an increase in your energy costs, state the total amount during the period you’ve been working from home – no proof or receipts are needed. If you have had no assistance from your employer, state so by putting £0 in the appropriate section.
Of course, if you have been furloughed, you are not working so you are not eligible for the tax relief.
For more information, GOV.UK has a page dedicated to working at home on their claiming tax relief for your job expenses page, where you can also check whether or not you are eligible to make a claim. Please note, this scheme is only for those who are being made (or their job requires them) to work from home, not if they voluntarily do so.
There is of course the old adage, “a penny saved is a penny earned”. If you want to make sure you are on the best energy tariff get in touch or check out our free, independent, impartial and Ofgem approved comparison site…
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