Martin Lewis Encourages People to Claim £124.80 a Year With WFH Tax Relief

What Is WFH Tax Relief?

If you have to work from home, you can be entitled to claim WFH tax relief to help cover the additional costs your office would otherwise bear. This includes the use of electricity, heating and internet usage. Once you apply for it, you receive a change in your tax code, which gives you more disposable income as you pay less tax.

Why Were the Rules Relaxed?

During the pandemic, millions of people were required to suddenly work from home. As this was not their fault, the government decided to help people out by allowing them to claim WFH tax relief. This was in the form of £6 a week, or £312 a year, as this figure was the expected costs you would incur for working from home, so you’d receive tax relief from that amount.

WFH Tax Relief from Martin Lewis

Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert, has been spreading the news about WFH tax relief on his TV show. He’s been informing everyone that it’s not too late to claim work from home tax relief from the pandemic. Martin Lewis has explained that you can claim a work from home tax rebate if you worked from home in the previous two years. A claim can be made for the whole year, even if you only worked from home for a single day as it works as a claim on a flat rate.

During the pandemic, WFH tax relief was raised to £6 a week and was designed to help cover the extra costs of working from home, such as increased electricity, broadband and heating use. Before this, it was a £4 a week flat rate. As Martin Lewis explained, it only applies to staff whose employers required them to work from home and not to those who decided to avoid the office.

How Do You Qualify for WFH Tax Relief?

The rules for qualifying for work from home tax relief during the pandemic were as follows:

• You were told to work from home by your employer

• Because you were told to work from home, your household costs increased

• You were not reimbursed by your workplace for costs incurred as a result of working from home

This means that you are able to claim WFH tax relief if this sounds like your circumstances. If you were paid for expenses, you can’t claim as you’ve received financial help already.

These circumstances covered the tax years 2020/2021 and 2021/2022. Even if you only worked from home for a single day in either of those years, or both, you can still claim the full amount of WFH tax relief you’re entitled to.

To find out more, read our WFH tax relief guide.

Current WFH Tax Relief Criteria

Now that we’re no longer in a pandemic, the rules for work from home tax relief have tightened up again. Under the new rules, you cannot make a claim for tax years if you choose to work from home or if you work from home because of Covid. WFH tax relief also now doesn’t apply if your contract allows you to work from home all or some of the time or if you have an office but you can’t work there because it’s full.

You can only claim WFH tax relief for the 2022/2023 tax year if:

• Your job requires you to live a long way from your office

• Your employer doesn’t have an office

As the rules are now more stringent for WFH tax relief, more universal claims are only available through the tax years covering the pandemic.

How Much Do You Receive in Work from Home Tax Relief?

This is all dependent on the amount of tax that you pay. As the WFH tax relief is on a flat rate, you will either get 20% or 40% of the amount. Basic rate taxpayers will receive 20% of the £6 flat rate, which is £1.20 a week. You’re a basic rate taxpayer if you earn between £12,500 and £50,000. High rate taxpayers will receive 40% of £6, which is £2.40 a week. High rate taxpayers earn more than £50,000 a year.

Can You Backdate WFH Tax Relief?

You can make a claim for any tax year in the past four years. This is true with any tax year. If you’re lucky enough to qualify for tax relief from this year onwards, you will receive a different tax code, which means you’ll pay less tax going forward. Any backdated claims, like claims covering the years over the pandemic, will be paid as a lump sum. If you’re claiming WFH tax relief for both of these years, this can be up to £249.60.

Is There a Deadline for Claiming WFH Tax Relief?

As Martin Lewis was encouraging people to do in his show, you can still make a claim for WFH tax relief for the years covering the pandemic. The deadline for the tax year 2020/2021 is 5th April 2025. For the tax year 2021/2022, it’s 5th April 2026. This is because it follows the four year backdating rule.

As costs are going up, why wait? The longer this is on the back burner, the more likely you are to forget about it and miss the deadline completely. If you qualify, you can receive a lump sum for both tax years covering Covid. If Martin Lewis encourages you to do anything this year, claiming WFH tax relief should be one of them.

After all, this money can go towards the price of rising energy. Read our article on how work at home tax can help with energy bills.

Can Self-Employed People Claim?

Unfortunately, WFH tax relief can only be claimed by those who aren’t self-employed. This is because those that are self-employed can claim the costs of working from home on self assessments. These costs are deducted as allowable business expenses.