Working from home in these “strange new times”
If you are anything like me, then you used to work from home now and then, hospital appointments, plumbers, deliveries but a majority of the time we were stuck in the office.
When the lockdown started, suddenly all that changed. Millions of us stopped going to the office and started working from home full time.
Suddenly the dinner table ceased to be just for eating and became a battleground for homeschooling and grown-ups working from home. Others found themselves balancing laptops as they sat on the sofa.
Office furniture suppliers suddenly found themselves new customers – you and me, desperately snapping up desks and chairs to tuck away into the corner of the bedroom or somewhere quiet.
Working from home can make good financial sense too. For many of us, the obvious saving is travel costs. However, there are some relatively unknown tax advantages that I’d like to share with you so you can save some tax.
If your employer reimburses you for working from home and other related expenditures – congratulations, you are one of the rare lucky ones!
If you don’t get this special treatment from your employer, you still can claim some tax back from HMRC.
From April 2020 you can claim an increased weekly allowance of £6 to cover the costs of working from home (electricity, light & heating, etc.). Sadly, no digestives though! This is an increase from the £4 that HMRC allowed you to claim up to 6 April 2020.
You can also claim the cost of office equipment that you had to buy to be able to work effectively from home. This could include desks, chairs, spare monitors, or other essential computer equipment.
If you submit an annual tax return, you will need to remember to include these costs but most of us don’t submit tax returns. So we will need to fill in the form P87 online. It doesn’t take long but could save you enough money to pay for those digestives and your Netflix upgrade!