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Any employed folk argue (and evidence..) that theyre spending more than 6 quid a week on making cups of tea, bog roll, keeping the lights etc on for the purposes of work?!
You’re getting paid home work expenses? Many don’t.
Maybe. I save far more by not having to commute.
It's the HMRC allowance I think?
I never bothered, I save more than that every day I WFH in commuting costs.
You talking about the wfh tax relief? Haven’t even bothered trying to claim that. I’m saving way more on avoiding posh coffee and sarnies in the office.
I’m sure I spend more than £6 a week to work from home / heating etc.
However I spend a lot more than that going to the office - fuel for commuting, coffee, lunch etc. the last two are to be fair avoidable - take sandwiches etc but I don’t.
I am spending a little on it, but I'm saving loads more by not commuting, not buying coffees and lunches etc.
My commute is a 15 minute cycle. The office has free heat/tea/coffee. Working at home for a year and a half in covid cost me but not sure I could arsed to quantify it. I could claim the rebate.
Yup referring to the hmrc rebate, no employer contribution to home expenses. Default is 6 quid, no need to justify, but if the heating is on then it’s Likely to be more so was interested if anyone had bothered trying to claim greater relief - it’s clearly going to be difficult separating the bill between energy used on heating the home office and the hydroponics setup in the loft..
I get a couple of hundred a year as a homeworker. Cant be arsed trying to figure if it actually covers the cost since the time saving is worth it.
I claim it because I can but yes I also appreciate you employer is doing me a huge favour. Cutting out the 44 mile a day commute has saved me a fortune in Diesel
I get free breakfast and lunch in the office, and nothing here. It's a 2 mile cycle each way and I don't pay to heat it so Def better off in the office, still elect to WFH thou
On this subject I noticed when doing my 21/22 tax return that they have made some changes to being able to claim this and tightened it up "post" covid. Worth seeing if it affects you
https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home
dont "think" employed persons can claim more.
When I was self employed the accountant put a small percentage of the home utilities through the business expenses
£3/week here from my employer as a WFH utilities allowance. Pretty generous, ain't it?
Back in the good old days I was a 50/50 car/cycle commuter, so my current domestic energy increased usage vs car cost is probably comparable but it'd be really hard to work out if I'm genuinely losing out or gaining.
It's just like the whole office/home argument; both have benefits and downsides. Flexibility to go for a ride or a run on a bonny day, vs social and collaboration benefits.
@swdan I think you can still claim for 21-22 tax year but not the 22-23.
"The guidance for claiming tax relief for working from home has changed for expenses on or after 6 April 2022."
Don't forget it's not £6 you get - it's tax relief on £6 so either £1.20 or £2.40 depending on your tax rate.
I did claim this on my tax return for the last couple of years but looks like i won't be eligible from this year onwards..
Doesn't bother me - i save £14 per day working from home - which i tend to do about 50% of the time post COVID.
For a lot of us it was only available during covid (the tax allowance). I'm in 3 days a week, but I'm cycling 10 miles each way and it saves me £10 per day with parking and fuel. Got to default to the car one day next week as my daughter can't get into Uni due to train strike.
Haven't claimed - I'm making many more savings by not commuting...time, happiness, non-work time to do better things.
Anyone declaring to their home insurance that they are working from home?
It can make a difference to the T&Cs especially if you convert a bedroom into a dedicated 'home office' which contains business equipment and information.
I'm actually looking forward to going to the office, ones in Bath and ones in Sydney,am currently in Spain 🙂
I do miss the cycle commute,as although I get nicer weekend rides, I find I'm not getting as much bike time during the week.
If I was uk side it the x squid would probably not cover the heating/coffee - Kleenex 🙂
Anyone declaring to their home insurance that they are working from home?
Not required for admin type work (on our policy).
Yup referring to the hmrc rebate, no employer contribution to home expenses. Default is 6 quid, no need to justify, but if the heating is on then it’s Likely to be more so was interested if anyone had bothered trying to claim greater relief – it’s clearly going to be difficult separating the bill between energy used on heating the home office and the hydroponics setup in the loft
Its a standard amount, and as others have said its not £6 a week in your pocket, but a taxable allowance so you only get £1.2 of that (20%). Its money for nothing so worth claiming.
Doubt you'll be able to claim anymore from your employer, as it would become a taxable benefit.
Plus they'll argue that the extra cost you have being at home is less than commuting into the office. If you say its greater they'll just argue that you should come into the office....
When i've worked it out its maybe an extra £1-2 for me to be at home, vs the £4 in commuting costs.
I get £18 a month allowance from the company towards my internet costs. Have worked from home for the last few years and now my contract states I'm home based. Never claimed anything extra. Heating not on during the day, solar panels pretty much cover all our daytime electricity use most of the year and home insurance didn't want anything extra when I declared it to them.
remind me where to claim this again?
For a lot of us it was only available during covid (the tax allowance).
...or is it just for people who do their own tax return now?
I reckon working at home costs me an additional £1.50 a week in teabags and milk, plus in the winter, the cost of heating during the day. Haven't had daytime heating yet this month - but it's in the post! As a cycle commuter I didn't spend anything on my commute anyway.
@bubs, yes I believe that's the case. Can't remember what I did now as I filled in my return a while ago.
@doris5000, anyone could claim, during the pandemic you just had to contact HMRC. Obviously that's easier if you do a self assessment return as you just add the £6 per week amount in under expenses.
Not sure what the process is now, might be worth checking out the HMRC website and trying to make sense of it
As a cycle commuter I didn’t spend anything on my commute anyway.
Yes you do.
Wear and tear on bike and clothing. Additional fuel (in the way of food, reckon I eat an extra meal a day if I cycle in 2 days a week.) it all counts.
^yep
I found you get thru more consumables tubes/tyres chains/lights/sealent and the habit of running a summer/winter one
🙂
Its a good excuse thou to buy bike stuff.
The benefit is only if employer requires you to work from home. I still mostly work from home, but business said we can come in again and because it's now a choice rather than enforced, am not eligible to claim any more. I save far more by not buying expensive coffee or sandwiches etc and not driving in too.
Yes you do.
Always surprised at the wear rate on my commuter - esp through winter, eats through tyres, wheels (worn through several rims).
All the crap on winter roads turns brake pads into emery paper...
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/8247/8544571827_c6b936ec5e_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/8247/8544571827_c6b936ec5e_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/e24avV ]Need a new rim![/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
This one eventually started deforming...
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/8525/8544570733_131272c7f1_c.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/8525/8544570733_131272c7f1_c.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/e24ac4 ]Very thin rim![/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/brf/ ]Ben Freeman[/url], on Flickr
Yes you do.
Wear and tear on bike and clothing.
Ah yeah fair point - I probably spent £100 - £200 a year on boring bike stuff like brake pads, tyres, chains and whatnot.
The benefit is only if employer requires you to work from home
Ah. Oh well. And I had been looking forward to spending my extra £1 a week in tax rebate!
Always surprised at the wear rate on my commuter – esp through winter, eats through tyres, wheels (worn through several rims).
Don't forget the wear rate on 'the' commuter, always seemed to be that one unexpected ice day that broke me and required new clothing, brake levers etc.
I think working office in the summer was always the most enjoyable ride but the winters sucked biggly.
I've claimed "flat rate job expenses" for years of working from home, current tax relief..... drum roll.... is a massive £165 🤣🤣
CBA. I have dropped from a 21,000 mile annual commute, to around 7,000. Claiming a few ££ doesn't seem worth the effort.
remind me where to claim this again?
Gov.uk website, search HMRC or tax or whatever. I claimed mine about a year into Covid when someone at work told me about it (I genuinely didn't know about it at that point).
Got a cheque in the post a week later for nearly £600 in backdated tax because I'd (quite truthfully) said I'd been WFH for several years. It was automatic after that, just got a small extra sum of money for filling in one form on a website. Took about 5 mins.
Free money from the Government, don't turn it down!
Working from home, when I could, saved me £400 a month in childcare alone ( I live within sight of my kids school). That coupled with the £200 a month in fuel costs to commute I would happily take a pay cut to be allowed to work from home again.
Free money from the Government, don’t turn it down!
I think most people would happily pay £6/mo to work from home.
If people can afford it it seems more fair to give the £6 to someone who can't WFH
Ah yeah fair point – I probably spent £100 – £200 a year on boring bike stuff like brake pads, tyres, chains and whatnot.
For that reason I went singlespeed on my commute bike. Set of brake pads every 12 months, plus a b/b every 2 years. Transmission gets replaced every 3 years (use track width chain/cogs) so fairly cheap. My addiction to jacket buying and trying to find the perfect commute jacket however massively offsets all of this… 😉
On the £6/week claim: totally forgot about it on my 21/22 tax return… assume that’s out of the window now?