Office closure, WFH reimbursement

Guest2

Guest2

Guest2

Soldato
Joined
6 May 2009
Posts
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Our head office is closing in October as the company had a chance to pull out the lease.
Many people work from home including myself, so it seemed pointless to keep the office open that can seat 170 a day when ~20/day usually go in.
With the electric rates going through the roof, my plan was to go into the office to work through the winter months instead of landing a £300/month electric bill.

This is now not possible as its closing. Do we have any case to claim daily electricity usage for laptop and two monitors on 8 hours a day?
 
Guest2 said:
Our head office is closing in October as the company had a chance to pull out the lease.
Many people work from home including myself, so it seemed pointless to keep the office open that can seat 170 a day when ~20/day usually go in.
With the electric rates going through the roof, my plan was to go into the office to work through the winter months instead of landing a £300/month electric bill.

This is now not possible as its closing. Do we have any case to claim daily electricity usage for laptop and two monitors on 8 hours a day?
Click to expand...

Yes claim it through tax relief.

blog.moneysavingexpert.com

Martin Lewis: Worked from home due to coronavirus before 6 April 2022? You can still claim tax relief worth up to £280

If your employer requires you to work from home, you've always been able to claim for increased costs, eg, heat or electricity, for the specific time at home. Yet in October 2020, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) launched a 'microservice' which, even if you only needed to work from home for a day...
blog.moneysavingexpert.com blog.moneysavingexpert.com
 
As above, you can claim tax relief, which works out about £6/month.

Not sure where you're getting £300 from though? Going with a fairly high 200w consumption, that's 1.6kwh over 8 hours, at the current capped rates of ~30p/kwh that's 48p/day, or ~£10.50/month.

Even with a potential rate increase of 50% in October, you're looking at £15/month - I'd happily pay £15/month to work from home, and like @neilw says, you're almost certainly saving more than that in transport costs etc.
 
Haggisman said:
As above, you can claim tax relief, which works out about £6/month.

Not sure where you're getting £300 from though? Going with a fairly high 200w consumption, that's 1.6kwh over 8 hours, at the current capped rates of ~30p/kwh that's 48p/day, or ~£10.50/month.

Even with a potential rate increase of 50% in October, you're looking at £15/month - I'd happily pay £15/month to work from home, and like @neilw says, you're almost certainly saving more than that in transport costs etc.
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Yep, electricity is still quite cheap to work from home. Heating is the killer, but if you're in a room with a couple of monitors etc it stays warm-ish anyway.

If I run my work laptop, my MacBook, and my PC with a single monitor, baseline usage is around 150w. I plan to get a 4K monitor to plug into the MacBook for the "WFH" part of the day rather than the PC so that'll likely bring down the usage to sub-90W, so barely £5/month for the WFH hours.
 
Haggisman said:
As above, you can claim tax relief, which works out about £6/month.

Not sure where you're getting £300 from though? Going with a fairly high 200w consumption, that's 1.6kwh over 8 hours, at the current capped rates of ~30p/kwh that's 48p/day, or ~£10.50/month.

Even with a potential rate increase of 50% in October, you're looking at £15/month - I'd happily pay £15/month to work from home, and like @neilw says, you're almost certainly saving more than that in transport costs etc.
Click to expand...

Need to add on heating which he wouldn't be needing if they were in the office.

Plus little things like using the kettle add up over time. Maybe the savings in commuting make it worthwhile (could be local) but when employers don't give hybrid working as an option then they should help out with the costs.
 
Checking again sounds like OP would be fine where most wont

"

Claiming tax relief on or after 6 April 2022​

You can claim if your employer has not already paid your expenses and you have additional household costs as a result of working from home.

One of the following must also apply:

  • there are no appropriate facilities available for you to perform your job on your employer's premises
  • the nature of the job requires you to live so far from the employer's premises that it is unreasonable for you to travel to those premises on a daily basis
  • you are required, under government restrictions, to work from home
To claim tax relief, you cannot have just chosen to work from home.

Guidance has changed for the new tax year.
You must ensure you meet the rules for claiming, as you may be prosecuted if you deliberately give incorrect or misleading information."
 
Puzzled said:
Need to add on heating which he wouldn't be needing if they were in the office.

Plus little things like using the kettle add up over time. Maybe the savings in commuting make it worthwhile (could be local) but when employers don't give hybrid working as an option then they should help out with the costs.
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True, but OP only mentioned electric costs and for reimbursement for the laptop/monitors. Heating would obviously be a bigger factor if needed.

While little things do add up, you could also say the same about having to go into the office every day - e.g. buying lunches/coffees during the day, extra wear and tear on shoes if walking to the office, additional laundry etc.
 
Thanks all. I do / can walk to work, im city central so its a 10-15 min walk.
Yes, at the moment I choose to work from home but do have the option of going in. In future, I will not.

I have claimed through a company called TaxReturned last year and managed to get ~£130 which wasnt too bad. Yes, they took a fee but wasnt too bothered as let them sort it all. I checked with HMRC they were legit first, which they are.
It doesnt take into account electric usage though and forms had nothing about being able (or not) to go into an office. I would like some heating at home in winter instead of working in 13c in hat and gloves!
 
Guest2 said:
Thanks all. I do / can walk to work, im city central so its a 10-15 min walk.
Yes, at the moment I choose to work from home but do have the option of going in. In future, I will not.

I have claimed through a company called TaxReturned last year and managed to get ~£130 which wasnt too bad. Yes, they took a fee but wasnt too bothered as let them sort it all. I checked with HMRC they were legit first, which they are.
It doesnt take into account electric usage though and forms had nothing about being able (or not) to go into an office. I would like some heating at home in winter instead of working in 13c in hat and gloves!
Click to expand...
It's literally a 2-minute online form to claim the tax relief from HMRC directly. You got ripped off.

www.gov.uk

Claim tax relief for your job expenses

Claiming tax relief on expenses you have to pay for your work, like uniforms, tools, travel and working from home costs.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk
 
mid_gen said:
It's literally a 2-minute online form to claim the tax relief from HMRC directly. You got ripped off.

www.gov.uk

Claim tax relief for your job expenses

Claiming tax relief on expenses you have to pay for your work, like uniforms, tools, travel and working from home costs.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk
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Is that a self assessment or this simple form? - https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/claim-tax-refund/which-tax-year
On the list of benefits here - https://www.gov.uk/income-tax/taxfree-and-taxable-state-benefits I see 'Winter Fuel Payments and Christmas Bonus' But nothing about fuel payments or xmas bonus on the claim form. I've had a xmas bonus for years now and it has always been taxed. Probably over 1k worth of xmas bonus tax alone
 
I was also unsure whether I could claim under the new rules, I am a homeworker, I requested to work from home permanently, which on it's own rules me out, however, the company I work for has no office in my country (Scotland) so I couldn't reasonably travel anywhere to work anyway.

We are a consultancy, with offices in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and occasionally travel to client sites, but again, none are close to me.

I wonder whether I can actually claim :confused:
 
Guest2 said:
Thanks all. I do / can walk to work, im city central so its a 10-15 min walk.
Yes, at the moment I choose to work from home but do have the option of going in. In future, I will not.

I have claimed through a company called TaxReturned last year and managed to get ~£130 which wasnt too bad. Yes, they took a fee but wasnt too bothered as let them sort it all. I checked with HMRC they were legit first, which they are.
It doesnt take into account electric usage though and forms had nothing about being able (or not) to go into an office. I would like some heating at home in winter instead of working in 13c in hat and gloves!
Click to expand...
If you're a 40% taxpayer all they've done is claim the tax relief on £6/week which is the amount HMRC allow if your company isn't paying you an allowance for home working.

If you want to claim tax relief on more than £6/week you have to evidence the extra expense.
 
TheStarkFactor said:
I was also unsure whether I could claim under the new rules, I am a homeworker, I requested to work from home permanently, which on it's own rules me out, however, the company I work for has no office in my country (Scotland) so I couldn't reasonably travel anywhere to work anyway.

We are a consultancy, with offices in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and occasionally travel to client sites, but again, none are close to me.

I wonder whether I can actually claim :confused:
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As you chose to work from home anything else is irrelevant.
 
Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
I thought the new WFH tax rules were basically designed so virtually no one can claim
Click to expand...

From my understanding when I last read the new rules, they stipulated that you couldn't claim if you had "chosen" to WFH where you actually had an office available for the full week. You were allowed to claim still if this was only a partial week - which is how companies who have adopted hybrid working practices will be allowed to apply. My employer classes me as a hybrid worker and I have a notice telling me that I'm not allowed to use the office five days a week.
 
Guest2 said:
Thanks all. I do / can walk to work, im city central so its a 10-15 min walk.
Yes, at the moment I choose to work from home but do have the option of going in. In future, I will not.
Click to expand...
Putting it bluntly... tough ****. You could make a request to your employer for additional expenses to cover the WFH costs, but that's about the only avenue you have available.
 
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