24 April 2023Tax relief for household expenses is permitted where it is demonstrated that the expense has been incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of the duties of the employment. HMRC accepts that those conditions are met where the following circumstances all apply:
- the duties that the employee performs at home are substantive duties of the employment. “Substantive duties” are duties that an employee has to carry out and that represent all or part of the central duties of the employment.
- those duties cannot be performed without the use of appropriate facilities.
- no such appropriate facilities are available to the employee on the employer’s premises (or the nature of the job requires the employee to live so far from the employer’s premises that it is unreasonable to expect them to travel to those premises on a daily basis).
- at no time either before or after the employment contract is drawn up is the employee able to choose between working at the employer’s premises or elsewhere.
These conditions are very restrictive and will only apply in limited circumstances. Individuals working from home under agreed home working arrangements including an element of personal choice are unlikely to be able to claim the relief.
Where relief is available this is a claim that an individual makes directly with HMRC and cannot be made multiple times if the person holds more than one job. If the conditions are met, the individual may claim relief on £26 per month without having to provide evidence of additional costs. If costs are incurred above this level, additional relief may be claimed subject to having appropriate evidence, e.g., bills, receipts.
