Employees who claimed home office tax relief during the pandemic could end up paying more tax this year

Workers who’ve been claiming “Residence Workplace Aid” throughout the Covid 19 Lockdown must be urgently reviewing their tax codes to make clear whether or not HMRC have included the reduction inside their discover of coding.

Robert Salter, a shopper tax director with main tax and advisory agency Blick Rothenberg mentioned: Workers must be reviewing their PAYE tax codes to make clear whether or not HMRC have included the house workplace reduction throughout the discover of coding.

“If that is so, until they’re nonetheless eligible for the reduction in 2022/23 – they need to contact HMRC to get the discover of coding corrected. In any other case, they may have further tax to pay on the finish of the tax yr.”

Robert added: “The Authorities relaxed the principles relating to dwelling workplace working and the related eligibility for claiming dwelling workplace reduction for the 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 UK tax years. In impact, attributable to Covid, folks can declare the £6 per week tax reduction in full for every of those tax years, the place they merely have been required to work at home for a restricted interval in every of those tax years. For instance, in case your employer required you to work at home throughout particular lockdowns for a number of weeks, you have been entitled to say tax reduction of £312 for the yr (52 weeks x £6 per week), until your employer lined your private home workplace prices.”

Robert mentioned: “Nevertheless, this was a brief rest of the principles on the a part of HMRC. As such, the house workplace reduction is simply obtainable from sixth April 2022 onwards, if
your employer particularly requires you to work from a house workplace – e.g., to cease the unfold of Covid or as a result of your job has been ‘relocated’ and now could be contractually regarded 100% as a house workplace position.”

Robert added: “If, for instance, your employer merely now permits employees to working flexibly – i.e., being within the workplace or working from dwelling because it fits every particular person, the house workplace reduction ceases to be obtainable for the 2022/23 tax yr and no tax reduction is on the market for the prices which one incurs from working from dwelling on this scenario.”