There is still time for eligible staff to claim tax relief for additional costs associated with working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
If it was necessary for you to work at home because of Covid-19 and, as a result, your household costs increased, you may be eligible to claim the working from home tax relief. It is quick, free and easy to claim via HMRC’s online portal.
You can apply for the backdated tax relief if you had to work from home because of Covid-19 during the 2 tax years from 6th April 2020 to 5th April 2022. HMRC will accept backdated claims and has confirmed that 5th April 2025 as the deadline for making claims for the 2020/21 tax year, and until 5th April 2026 for claims relating to 2021/22. Please note that:
- The tax relief for any period after 5 April 2022 is not available unless you were required to work from home because of Covid-19.
- Also the relief is not available if you are working from home as part of a hybrid-working scheme, as such it will not be available to most University employees after 5th April 2022.
Eligible employees can claim tax relief based on their income tax rate. For example, if you normally pay 20% basic rate of tax and you claim tax relief on the standard ‘Working from home’ allowable cost of £6 a week, you would receive £1.20 a week in tax relief (20% of £6 a week) towards the cost of your household bills. Higher rate taxpayer claimants would receive £2.40 a week (40% of £6 a week). Hence for each full year claimed for, basic rate taxpayers would achieve a tax saving of £62.40, and for high rate taxpayers, a tax saving of £124.80. You will receive a lump sum payment for any successful backdated claims.
To claim for tax relief for working from home because of Covid-19, employees can apply directly via the GOV.UK portal.
This communication is released in conjunction with the work of the Financial Wellbeing Group, whose broad aim is to help support University staff during the current cost of living crisis.