Claiming the use of home as an expense can reduce the tax that a business owner pays or enable an employee to receive tax refunds from HMRC.

If you would like to read more on how to calculate the use of home as an expense kindly click.

How to claim this expense as a business owner.

When a sole trader or director claims this expense, it would be added to the other expenses of the business.

This would then be deducted from the turnover of the business.

By deducting the Use of home expense, the net profit will be reduced and the tax paid invariably reduced.

The use of home expense claimed must be related to the relevant accounting period.

How to claim this expense by an employee working from home.

Employees working from home normally claim the Use of home in a different way as they do not have a business of their own to claim this expense for.

The following are the steps in claiming this expense as an employee:

You can claim this expense by visiting HMRC and clicking this link

Step 1

If you are under the self-assessment system already for other reasons, you can claim this expense when you submit your self-assessment return.

Step 2

But if you’re not under self-assessment regime, you can actually claim it without going through self-assessment.

Step 3

 If the expenses that you want to claim for each year are less than £2500, all you need to do is open a personal tax account if you don’t have one already and follow the link above to make the claim. If it’s more than £2500 per year you’d have to go through self-assessment. 

Step4

One thing you need to put into consideration if you’re an employee is that you would need to make sure these expenses are authorized by your employer.

If your employer is already paying you for working from home, then you should not be claiming this expense in the first place.

 So, you would claim it only if your employer is not paying your expenses for working from home already.

Step 5

To make this Claim you would need a government gateway identification if you don’t have one already.

During the registration of the Government Gate ID, you would need either your P60 or passport to identify yourself.

Step  6

Input the amount that you would be claiming for working from home.

You will be required to put all your bank details and this payment will be sent to you straight away.

Conclusion on claiming use of home as an expense.

You could also claim other work-related expenses such as travel, subsistence or uniform expense at the same time when you claim this relief. 

If you would like me to support you with claiming this relief, kindly click to book a free consultation