Working From Home Tax Relief Explained: What You Can Claim
If you’re required to work from home, you can claim tax relief from HMRC to help cover the extra household costs. It’s not huge money, but it is legitimate, easy to claim, and still widely missed.
Working from home used to be a niche perk. Now it’s normal. And while you save on commuting, you usually pay more at home through higher electricity, heating and internet use. HMRC accepts that and allows a flat-rate claim without receipts.
Why are you entitled to a refund?
You can claim tax relief if your employer requires you to work from home. That requirement can be:
A formal contract stating home working
A hybrid role where you must work from home on certain days
A lack of office space meaning home working is necessary
You can’t usually claim if you simply choose to work from home for convenience.
That distinction matters. HMRC doesn’t care whether you like working from home, only whether your employer expects it of you.
How much can you claim?
There are two routes.
Employer-paid allowance
Your employer can pay you up to £6 per week tax-free to cover home working costs. Some do, many don’t.
Tax relief via HMRC
If your employer doesn’t pay this, you can claim tax relief on £6 per week instead. You don’t get £6 back in cash — you get the tax relief on it:
£1.20 per week for basic-rate taxpayers
£2.40 per week for higher-rate taxpayers
Over a full tax year, that’s tax relief on £312. HMRC usually applies this by adjusting your tax code, so you see the benefit spread across your payslips.
Important point: the £6 is a flat rate. Even if your bills went up more than that, HMRC won’t allow a higher claim unless you calculate exact costs and keep evidence, which most people don’t bother with.
What the allowance does and doesn’t cover
The flat-rate allowance is designed to cover things like:
Extra electricity and gas
Increased broadband usage
General household running costs
It does not cover:
Office furniture
Laptops, monitors or desks
One-off equipment purchases
Those fall under different expense rules and are much harder to claim for unless your employer reimburses you directly.
How to claim your tax relief
If you already complete a Self Assessment tax return, include the claim there.
If you don’t, the simplest option is the online P87 form using your Government Gateway account. A paper version exists, but unless you enjoy delays, the online form is quicker.
Before you start, you’ll need:
Your employer’s name
Your employer’s PAYE reference (on your payslip or P60)
Your job title
Your National Insurance number (for postal claims)
Key sections on the P87 form
Two boxes are important.
“Amount paid by you”
Enter £6. This confirms you’re using the HMRC flat-rate allowance and avoids the need for receipts.
“Amount paid to you by your employer”
If your employer hasn’t paid you anything extra for working from home, enter £0.
Get these wrong and the claim can be delayed or reduced.
Can the claim be backdated?
Yes. You can usually backdate claims for up to four previous tax years, as long as you met the eligibility rules during those periods.
If you’re still working from home and don’t know when that will end, it often makes sense to submit one claim covering the full period rather than claiming year by year.
Does this apply across the UK?
Yes. The working-from-home allowance works the same way in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The value of the relief differs slightly depending on your tax rate, but the rules themselves are UK-wide.
Is it worth claiming?
Let’s be blunt. This won’t transform your finances.
But it takes minutes to claim, HMRC actively allows it, and once it’s in your tax code you don’t have to think about it again. Ignore small, easy claims like this and you’re effectively choosing to overpay tax.
If you qualify, claim it. Then look at other overlooked reliefs too, like tax relief for washing your uniform, which is another easy win people constantly miss.
