Flexi Rail Ticket - Will you be returning?

200sols said:
Catch 22.

You probably couldn't afford a lovely 4 bed house in the country on 50k.
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Rubbish, there are plenty of places you can, the problem is, they are in the middle of nowhere with no jobs around... Of course that ceases to actually be a problem when you can WFH!
 
dLockers said:
No, I mean claim the tax benefit on WFH. HMRC have said you can claim a certain amount back which is equivalent to about £300 quid a year.

Edit: If you haven't done it, do it; and do it yourself (don't let some scalper take a cut). HMRC have even built a wizard to make it as simple as possible.
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Minusorange said:
Didn't know this existed thanks for the tip!
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It’s not quite that simple. You can normally only claim it if your employer forces you to work from home (e.g. you have a home working contract and can’t work from their premises) AND they don’t pay you any expenses to do so.

As soon as the governments COVID restrictions are lifted, the ability to claim that tax break goes away for most people working from home because you could work in your employers office, you just choose not to.

There is lots of nuance around this which isn’t as straight forward as the above sets out.
 
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200sols said:
It would make a lot more economical sense and we wouldn't have a cement shortage :cry:
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It would also have the benefits of...

...local communities would praise the government for not flattening their house.
...l337 gamers would vote Tory to get a lower ping :D
 
When I got an email about this a couple of weeks ago from Southern Rail I was expecting this to be better value than this considering you're only getting 2/7ths of what an annual season ticket would get you which also used to include a golden railcard for 20% discount on additional tickets.

Angmering to London Terminals with no travel card for buses or tube would be...

Flexi Season (28 day validity) £396.90 x 12 = £4,762.80

Annual Season ticket = £5,168

Saving of £405.20 but sacrificing 5 days per week that a Season Ticket would also cover.

It's taking the pee really value wise.

The one advantage it does have over a Season Ticket is for those that are salaried and receive holidays providing you don't take the holidays in dribs and drabs because refunds of partial Flexi's means you first get charged full price for any passes you've used on that Flexi.

Optimal would be if you could take all your holiday together and only need to purchase 11 Flexi's.

£396.90 x 11 = 4,365.90

Saving of £802.10 compared to a full yearly Season Ticket.
 
Only purchasing 11 flexi tickets means you need 8 weeks annual leave to cover the gaps as there are 13 4 week period in a year.

Where do you work? I’d like to apply for a job!
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
No, it’s not quite that simple. You can only claim it if your employer forces you to work from home (e.g. you have a home working contract and can’t work from their premises) AND they don’t pay you any expenses to do so.

As soon as the governments COVID restrictions are lifted, the ability to claim that tax break goes away for most people working from home because you could work in your employers office, you just choose not to.

There is lots of nuance around this which isn’t as straight forward as the above sets out.
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"Everyone" was "forced" to work from home last year, so HMRC have said even if you only worked 1 day from home, feel free to claim the full allowance.

https://www.accountancydaily.co/emp...tax-year#:~:text='HMRC said that people could,'
 
dLockers said:
"Everyone" was "forced" to work from home last year, so HMRC have said even if you only worked 1 day from home, feel free to claim the full allowance.

https://www.accountancydaily.co/employed-workers-can-claim-working-home-allowance-new-tax-year#:~:text='HMRC said that people could,'
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That was implied and I specifically said as soon as the COVID restriction is lifted (supposedly in 6 weeks) the ability to claim the tax relief goes away for most people.

Your post comes across as that anyone working from home for a couple of days a week can claim it, they can’t after the restrictions are lifted. You didn’t make any reference to the COVID restrictions.

Perhaps I’ll go back and add ‘normally’ into the second sentence to make it clear.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Only purchasing 11 flexi tickets means you need 8 weeks annual leave to cover the gaps as there are 13 4 week period in a year.

Where do you work? I’d like to apply for a job!
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If your 8 days are spread out over the full 28 day duration then yes but if you can bunch them together in the middle of each period then you can have a few days at each end of a ticket expiring where you don't purchase the next one until it's needed. Better still would be to work with your employer to decide on whole weeks that you go in to the office as a weekly ticket for example between Angmering & London is £129.20. Therefore if you agree to go in 2 whole weeks per month it could be 24 x £129.20 = 3,100.80, saving £2,067.20 against the annual season ticket plus the employer gets you for 10 days per month instead of 8.
 
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b0rn2sk8 said:
That was implied and I specifically said as soon as the COVID restriction is lifted (supposedly in 6 weeks) the ability to claim the tax relief goes away for most people.

Your post comes across as that anyone working from home for a couple of days a week can claim it, they can’t after the restrictions are lifted.

Perhaps I’ll go back and add ‘normally’ into the second sentence to make it clear.
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Winding your neck in, dropping the obtuse 'no' and fixing the inaccuracies would be a great start.
 
dLockers said:
Winding your neck in, dropping the obtuse 'no' and fixing the inaccuracies would be a great start.
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Nothing I wrote is inaccurate, you can only claim it if you are made to work from home. I gave an example of being made to work from home, it wasn’t a complete list. If you choose to work from home, you can’t claim it.

I dropped the ‘no’ if that pleases you though :p
 
dLockers said:
No, I mean claim the tax benefit on WFH. HMRC have said you can claim a certain amount back which is equivalent to about £300 quid a year.

Edit: If you haven't done it, do it; and do it yourself (don't let some scalper take a cut). HMRC have even built a wizard to make it as simple as possible.
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Tax relief on £6/week, no proof required. If you can prove more than £6/week you can claim based on the higher amount.

In your pocket that's £1.20/week for 20% taxpayers and £2.40/week for 40% taxpayers.

Working from home due to coronavirus, even for a day? Claim TWO years' worth of tax relief

Skip down to the section headed "How to claim TWO years' relief (or an extra one if you've already claimed)".
 
200sols said:
No, because all those cheaper places have crap internet.
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I live in the middle of the countryside and get decent internet (I actually have 2 lines which I've combined (work pays for 1 of them)) - plus have the advantage of space and fresh air, fields and peace and quiet!

Admittedly the 5am commutes aren't fun - but I don't do those anymore (after 12+ years of doing them). Taking a pay cut wasn't such a bad thing either (admittedly I was fortunate that I could afford a paycut), but I think with blended approach to work now, 3days in the office is likely to be more common, it might work out better to do those flexible season tickets - the rail companies need to adapt...
 
Freefaller said:
I live in the middle of the countryside and get decent internet (I actually have 2 lines which I've combined (work pays for 1 of them)) - plus have the advantage of space and fresh air, fields and peace and quiet!

Admittedly the 5am commutes aren't fun - but I don't do those anymore (after 12+ years of doing them). Taking a pay cut wasn't such a bad thing either (admittedly I was fortunate that I could afford a paycut), but I think with blended approach to work now, 3days in the office is likely to be more common, it might work out better to do those flexible season tickets - the rail companies need to adapt...
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Those of us who already live in a nice location with space are privileged, with rural house prices skyrocketing the next generation won't be so lucky.
 
200sols said:
Those of us who already live in a nice location with space are privileged, with rural house prices skyrocketing the next generation won't be so lucky.
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We moved out of London because of it. Our flat in London whilst great isn't a place to bring up kids. we made a choice, tough commute vs space. sometimes you do wish it wasn't such a chore to get into London.
 
Annual first class, Stafford to Euston I give you £21k, Standard £13k.

Not that I paid for my tickets over they years but that is crazy!
 
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