Tax Relief for your Job Expenses
The Government website has been updated in respect of tax relief you can claim when working from home.
Naturally with many working from home during Covid-19, this may be an area more employees want to understand to ensure they are claiming tax relief where possible, on expenditure they incur.
The areas covered within this section of the Government website include:
- Uniforms, work clothing and tools
- Vehicles you use for work
- Travel and overnight expenses
- Professional fees and subscriptions
- Working at home
- Buying other equipment
For more information and to check if you can claim, the link to the relevant section of the website is:
https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home
New exemption for Covid-19 related reimbursed home office expenses
In addition, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury has announced that reimbursement of expenses that would be for home office equipment are exempt from tax.
This change will have effect for the 2019-20 (from 16 March 2020 only) and 2020-21 tax years.
The temporary income tax and National Insurance (NIC) exemption will ensure that no tax liability arises where employers reimburse employees’ personal expenditure on home office equipment arising from arrangements to work from home during the Covid-19 outbreak.
To be eligible for the exemption the expenditure must meet the following two conditions:
- That equipment is obtained for the sole purpose of enabling the employee to work from home as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak, and
- The provision of the equipment would have been exempt from income tax if it had been provided directly to the employee by, or on behalf of, the employer (under section 316 of ITEPA).
Linked to employee expenses and benefits, an earlier article (that we featured in our Covid-19 regular updates) may also be relevant to anyone trying to understand the treatment of expenses and you can read it here:
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