From 6 April 2020, employers have been able to pay employees up to £6 a week tax-free to cover additional costs if they have had to work from home.

Launched on 1 October 2020, the online portal is simple to use and has been set up to process tax relief on additional expenses for employed workers who have been told to work from home by their employer to help stop the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

From 6 April 2020, employers have been able to pay employees up to £6 a week tax-free to cover additional costs if they have had to work from home. Employees who have not received the working from home expenses payment direct from their employer can apply to receive the tax relief from HMRC.

HMRC is encouraging customers claiming tax relief for working from home to apply directly through GOV.UK, this link will take you to the correct page.

Eligible taxpayers can claim tax relief based on the rate at which they pay tax. For example, if an employed worker pays the 20% basic rate of tax and claims tax relief on £6 a week, they would receive £1.20 a week in tax relief (20% of £6 a week) towards the cost of their household bills.

Higher rate taxpayers would therefore receive £2.40 a week (40% of £6 a week). Over the course of the year, this could mean taxpayers can reduce the tax they pay by £62.40 or £124.80 respectively.

Once the application has been approved, the online portal will adjust an individual’s tax code for the 2020 to 2021 tax year. The employee will receive the tax relief directly through their salary and will continue to receive the adjustment until March 2021.

Working from home part-time? HMRC have confirmed that you are eligible for the full £6 relief even if you are working from home part time, so long as additional expenses have been incurred. Additional expenses would include the use of electricity, and other household utilities, for work related activities.

HMRC has stated the following: “We recognise that the working-from-home situation is very fluid this year, so we are accepting claims for the full year’s expenses. That includes even if people have only worked from home for some of the year, to avoid needing to contact us if you have to work from home again.”

This therefore means that employees are able to claim the tax relief for a full year even if they worked less than a full year from home.