People working from home due to Covid can now claim 2 years worth of tax relief

Many people are still working from home currently as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic leaves a lot of workplaces closed.

And if you are, that means you could be given tax relief of up to £280.

If your employer requires you to work from home, you've always been able to claim for increased costs for things such as heat or electricity, for the specific time while at home.

But HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) launched a 'microservice' during the 2020 lockdown which meant that even if you only needed to work from home for a day, you were allowed a whole year's tax relief.

That now also applies for the new 2021/22 tax year too – meaning many are due two years' relief.

If you have been required to work from home at any point from 6 April 2021 (up to 5 April 2022) and have higher costs due to it, you can claim via the microservice.

Those who already claimed for 2020/21 must claim again for the 2021/22 tax year.

Money expert Martin Lewis shared the news in a blog post on his moneysavingexpert.com website.

He said that HMRC has specifically confirmed to him that claims from employees working at home due to coronavirus measures, if their usual workplace is closed, count for this relief.

To claim the tax relief you must have, and declare that you have had, specific extra costs that have arisen due to working from home.

However proving extra costs, such as heating and electricity, is tough, so there is currently a flat rate of £6 a week available.

Employers can either pay you £6 a week extra tax-free or you can claim tax relief on £6 a week.

If your employer won't pay expenses for your extra costs due to necessary working from home, but you have them, you can ask for the amount to be taken from your taxable income.

Those who believe they have higher costs than £6 a week can claim more, but will need evidence of the cost increases and must be able to apportion these extra costs specifically to the fact that they are working from home.

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To process claims, most employees can use the HMRC working-from-home microservice (however this doesn’t apply if you do self-assessment via a form).

For this, you will need to have a Government Gateway ID, which you can set up along the way if you don't.

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