Employees who claimed tax relief for working from home during the pandemic may no longer qualify in 2022/23, as legal restrictions have been lifted.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, people newly working from home were encouraged to apply for tax relief for the whole year, regardless of how many days they worked from home.
The relaxed take on the system remains in place until the end of this tax year with the same rules for eligibility, but with many employees now following a hybrid working pattern, HMRC is expecting claims to drop to pre-pandemic levels.
Household expenses must be wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of work duties to qualify. This means you can only claim the relief if you have to work from home - not if you choose to.
HMRC recently clarified its guidance on eligibility for the relief, which you can read here.
The relaxed rules cover tax years 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23. People are able to claim £6 a week in relief for all these tax periods if they were required to work from home.
HMRC received more than 3 million claims for tax relief over the 2020/21 tax year. If you think you could be eligible for tax relief from the pandemic, you can check here.
Ask us about tax reliefs available to you.