Possible scam : Tax rebate

Bassmansam · 22 Apr 2022 at 21:15

Hey GD

Is this work from home rebate a scam? I did it last year but it was through the official gov website. This keeps popping up on my fb, people commenting that its legit but i am suspicious.

What do you think?

https://www.taxrebate.uk/working-fr...FKqXDBUNV-cKqIMFT1_NcRo74D7gEN8ic5w2F_3J9HROI

touch · 22 Apr 2022 at 21:20

I'd guess it's "legit" in that it's a company who will do what you pay them for: submitting your tax details to HMRC.

Why you would want to pay a company to do that when you can do it yourself for free in 2 mins is another question.

peterwalkley · 22 Apr 2022 at 21:21

Not convinced by that site, take a look at MSE instead: https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/...g-from-home-due-to-coronavirus--claim-p6-wk-/

Surveyor · 22 Apr 2022 at 21:22

If it looks dodgy it probably is. Just use the oficial website (again).

https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home

And if you want to claim for the current tax year the rules have changed.

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.

dlockers · 22 Apr 2022 at 21:27

It is highly likely legit but they take a cut of your refund.

There are loads of firms that offer a similar service for folk who wash their own uniform etc. Which is marginally better value for money as it is fractionally harder to claim for.

Bassmansam said:
Hey GD

Is this work from home rebate a scam? I did it last year

If you are competent enough to "do it yourself" (I mean they literally built a wizard to let you do it) then no need to pay a service.

Bassmansam · 22 Apr 2022 at 21:40

Ah i didn’t realise you could claim foe this year aswell.

Surveyor · 22 Apr 2022 at 21:49

Bassmansam said:
Ah i didn’t realise you could claim foe this year aswell.

As long as your circumstances meet the stricter requirements.

Bassmansam · 24 Apr 2022 at 09:28

Has anyone applied for this for 22-23?

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.

so its a bit different as theres no gov rule about working from home if you can now. My office is about 1 hr 15 min commute, not sure if that qualifies as living far from work. Should i retract my claim for this year?

dlockers · 24 Apr 2022 at 09:32

Bassmansam said:
Has anyone applied for this for 22-23?

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.

so its a bit different as theres no gov rule about working from home if you can now. My office is about 1 hr 15 min commute, not sure if that qualifies as living far from work. Should i retract my claim for this year?

Glad you pointed that out. I think I'll retract my claim this year. It just isn't worth the hassle.

Bassmansam · 24 Apr 2022 at 10:26

Einskis said:
my employer has agreed that because my commute is about an hour each way that it is unreasonable to expect me to travel that far daily, so i am continuing to work from home on a full time basis.

Is it your employer decides that its too long a commute or hmrc though?

EvilRob · 24 Apr 2022 at 11:31

Einskis said:
my employer has agreed that because my commute is about an hour each way that it is unreasonable to expect me to travel that far daily, so i am continuing to work from home on a full time basis.

So does the nature of your job require that you live an hour away from the offices, or have you just chosen to do so?

peterwalkley · 24 Apr 2022 at 13:03

The "there are no appropriate facilities available for you to perform your job on your employer's premise" one looks open to abuse. Does there being no spare hot desk available count (for example) ...

I've worked from home for nearly 20 years but never claimed anything from the tax man. I always (back of fag packet) calculated that the commute cost savings put me ahead anyway so didn't get greedy.

Pudney · 24 Apr 2022 at 13:11

Bassmansam said:
Is it your employer decides that its too long a commute or hmrc though?

peterwalkley said:
The "there are no appropriate facilities available for you to perform your job on your employer's premise" one looks open to abuse. Does there being no spare hot desk available count (for example) ...

In the first instance it would be on the basis of the employer's opinion, but HMRC are perfectly entitled to disagree.

[FnG]magnolia · 25 Apr 2022 at 01:24

Pudney said:
In the first instance it would be on the basis of the employer's opinion, but HMRC are perfectly entitled to disagree.

Hi @Pudney , in bold, what could that then lead to? Scare factor on a level of 1 to Someone is Going to the Big House for 100 years?

Resident · 25 Apr 2022 at 03:36

Bassmansam said:
Hey GD

Is this work from home rebate a scam? I did it last year but it was through the official gov website. This keeps popping up on my fb, people commenting that its legit but i am suspicious.

What do you think?

https://www.taxrebate.uk/working-fr...FKqXDBUNV-cKqIMFT1_NcRo74D7gEN8ic5w2F_3J9HROI

They're legal scams tbh.

All they do is fill out and submit the same forms that you can do yourself for free directly with .Gov.

But then they take an 'admin fee', usually a good chunk of your rebate for doing so.

Curlyriff · 25 Apr 2022 at 15:52

EvilRob said:
So does the nature of your job require that you live an hour away from the offices, or have you just chosen to do so?

I have similar situation where I live 90mins from office. I started working part in office/part home because such distance. I cannot currently re-mortgage for a new property due to financial issues and so I am locked into my current location and so it is not by choice. I would really like to live much closer and not do the commute as that would save me about £300 a month in fuel alone.

Pudney · 25 Apr 2022 at 16:45

[FnG]magnolia said:
Hi @Pudney , in bold, what could that then lead to? Scare factor on a level of 1 to Someone is Going to the Big House for 100 years?

As long as the decision to pay/claim working from home expense was reasonable then the likelihood is that there would be interest to pay on any underpaid tax (along with the underpayment itself).

If it was not reasonable to make that decision, e.g. if someone chose to work from home (which is explicitly not a good enough reason) then penalties could be chargeable depending on the level of culpability (with potential reductions for helping/communicating/assisting HMRC). Roughly the behaviours are:

Careless error - 0% to 30% of potential lost tax.
Deliberate error - 30% to 70% of potential lost tax.
Deliberate error and concealed - 70% to 100% of potential lost tax.

Note, those percentages are off the top of my head and I haven't double checked them because no one is paying me and I can't be bothered! You get the drift.

Einskis said:
the company who i applied to work for is an hour away from where i live. i was taken on during covid specifically to work from home and have continued to do so. there is no requirement for me to go into to the office and our md agreed it was too far to drive daily.

Curlyriff said:
I have similar situation where I live 90mins from office. I started working part in office/part home because such distance. I cannot currently re-mortgage for a new property due to financial issues and so I am locked into my current location and so it is not by choice. I would really like to live much closer and not do the commute as that would save me about £300 a month in fuel alone.

The important thing to note is that the test whether you are entitiled is one of wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred for your employment. Necessarily can be quite hard to evidence. HMRC gives some examples here:

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim32790

Example 3 is probably a useful example for you both. Durham to Newcastle is about an hour drive based on my vague Northern knowledge and is something HMRC would probably consider isn't far enough away to justify home working. That can probably help your understanding whether or not it is reasonable for you.

silversurfer · 25 Apr 2022 at 16:51

I wondered why the gov was paying for advertising to give back tax

thanks OP

Matt-Page · 25 Apr 2022 at 16:58

Never bothered with this, but considering doing so now... Can you claim for previous years IE since the COVID pandemic started? Thanks.

silversurfer · 25 Apr 2022 at 17:33

You can claim back tax for six year previous, I think. Maybe that was reduced as 2017 claims just lapsed on 5th April, but this is back datable anyway