Whether you’re a teacher, writer or a field worker – many professions require at least some work to be done from the employee’s home, while certain occupational groups now work entirely remotely. To create the perfect atmosphere for focused working, it’s worth setting up a dedicated room as a home office. In some cases, it’s even possible to claim the home office, furniture, and office equipment as a tax-deductible expense. We’ll show you what to look out for when considering tax relief for your home office.
Not every professional will be able to claim relief for a dedicated home office or work equipment to lower their taxes. Whether you can deduct a home office depends, in the first instance, on whether you’re employed or self-employed. The UK regulations that govern who and what can and can’t be tax-deducted are stipulated by the HMRC, and generally differ for sole traders and limited companies. Generally, only the self-employed or limited companies are able to claim back some of the expenses for their home offices. However, where an employment contract specifically requires an employee to work from home (i.e. this not being optional), employed people many claim back expenses for their home office at the end of the year.
You’ll qualify as self-employed when you’re working for yourself or have set-up a small business. This may include working freelance, providing services as an independent contractor, being a partner in a business or working for yourself part-time or on the side.
Working from home during the coronavirus shutdown: How to handle working remotely
To claim expenses on a work room in your home, some requirements need to be met. Not every space that comes equipped with a desk automatically qualifies for tax relief. There are some requirements that have to be met:
If you’re renting an office room or a co-working space outside of your home, you can fully tax-deduct the costs for the space as a business expense. However, your home office would not qualify for an additional or separate allowable relief.
Limited companies can also set up rental agreements between themselves (acting as the homeowner) and their limited company. In this way, they have a formal written agreement over the amount they can tax-deduct. However, this amount needs to be reasonable and equate to the space you actually use for business purpose.
In order to write off the costs of a home office, you should know which types of expenses you can deduct. Among the costs you can tax-deduct are:
Expenses paid to set-up an office at home can be deducted retrospectively.
Whilst expenses for furniture or office equipment such as a computer can be fully tax-deducted, rent and mortgages can only be partially written off. There are generally two options used to calculate how much taxpayers can deduct.
One of the easiest options is to use the HMRC’s flat rates that are based on the hours worked from home. These should only be used if you spend more than 25 hours per month working from home.
| Hours home office is used for per month | Flat rate per month |
|---|---|
| 25-50 | £10 |
| 51-100 | £18 |
| 101+ | £26 |
The HMRC website also provides flat rates for vehicle use per month and for business owners living at their premises (for example, hotel owners).
The second option includes calculating your expenses based on the actual space you use and all other expenses such as repair costs and utility bills. The way you want to calculate this is up to you. For example, if there are four rooms in your house and you use one of them as your home office at a rent of £1,000 per month, you would divide the rent by the number of rooms to obtain the expenses estimate:
£1,000 / 4 = £250
You’ll be able to claim £250 per month for your office. Alternatively, you could measure the actual square metres of your office at home.
Let’s assume the total space of your home is 1,000 square metres and you use 100 square metres (10%) of it as your home office. You would be able to write off 10% of all expenses as follows:
| Expense type | Cost | % of home office | Allowable deductible expense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rent | £1,000 | 10% | £100 |
| Utility bills | £250 | 10% | £25 |
| Insurance | £100 | 10% | £10 |
| Repair services | £150 | 10% | £15 |
| Total: £150 | Total: £150 | Total: £150 | Total: £150 |
According to the calculation above, you would be able to write off £150 in total per month for your home office. Generally, you cannot deduct more than your gross income was. So, if your yearly expenses were £1,500, but you only earned £1,000, you cannot claim the full expense amount.
A well-equipped home office should include the Microsoft Office Suite. IONOS provides Microsoft Office including OneDrive and Microsoft Teams – the optimal solution for businesses and sole traders. The tools allow you to collaborate with others via the cloud. Costs for Microsoft Office can be deducted as a business expense.
You can claim tax relief on your home office using the self-assessment tax return forms. If you’re self-employed, you can enter the deduction for your home office expenses in the appropriate section in the self-assessment form online or on paper. You can either provide the total expenses or list a detailed break-down of expenses. Limited companies generally fill out a company tax return.
It’s a good idea to keep a record of any expenses you want to write off for your home office until the end of the year and file them safely in case of future external audits by the HMRC.
Where two or more people share a home office, they cannot each claim the full amount for the space, but must divide the allowable home office expense between them. However, they may be able to claim higher relief for utilities and bills, depending on usage.
Please note the legal disclaimer relating to this article.
A growing number of employees are able to work from their homes. Many employers are willing to facilitate flexible working for their employees and create the conditions for a better work-life balance. But do employees have a right to work from home, and are there any laws governing work from home?
Starting a work from home policy can be a real challenge. Business owners and employees must take into account plenty of technical and human details, and implement them appropriately. Choosing the right software and leadership methods can be critical. Here, we will show you what to pay more attention to, and how to ensure your employees stay motivated long-term when they start working remotely.
Working in from a home office with your kids around can put even nerves of steel to the test. The double burden of work and keeping your little ones entertained in a confined space can push both parents and children to their limits. Our best tips and tricks can help you manage conflict and avoid a real-home crises before they happen.
An ergonomic workspace is an important pillar of the healthy work life. But many people are missing the know-how to create a more ergonomic environment. Illness, discomfort, and a lack of motivation can be the consequence. And yet, an ergonomically-designed workstation is easy to put into practice. We’ll show you the top tips for more ergonomic working.
Provide powerful and reliable service to your clients with a web hosting package from IONOS
