Employees required by their employer to work from home can claim tax relief on the £6-a-week flat rate (no receipts needed) through HMRC's online P87 service, worth £62.40 a year for a basic-rate taxpayer or £124.80 for a higher-rate taxpayer. You can only claim if your employer requires you to work from home — choosing to work from home when your employer offers an office does not qualify. If your actual extra costs are higher than the flat rate, you can claim the real amount instead, but you'll need bills and a clear calculation to back it up.
Working from home tax relief is one of the most searched tax questions in the UK, and one of the most misunderstood. During the pandemic, HMRC ran a temporary easement that let almost anyone working from home claim it. That easement ended on 5 April 2022. The rules are stricter now, and a lot of the advice still circulating online is out of date.
01 Who actually qualifies
You can claim if your employer requires you to work from home — because they have no office for you, or your role is contractually home-based. You generally cannot claim if you choose to work from home for convenience, even under a formal hybrid arrangement, if your employer does provide office space you could use instead.
This is the rule most people get wrong. A hybrid contract that says "you may work from home two days a week" is a choice, not a requirement, in HMRC's eyes. If your employer has a desk for you and you're simply opting out of using it, the claim will likely be refused.
02 The £6-a-week flat rate, worked example
The simplest route is HMRC's flat rate of £6 a week, covering additional heating, electricity and internet costs from working at home. No receipts required, no calculation to defend — you just claim it.
The relief isn't the £312 itself — it's the tax you'd have paid on that £312. A basic-rate taxpayer gets 20% of it back; a higher-rate taxpayer gets 40% back, which is £124.80 on the same claim. It arrives either as a change to your tax code, spreading the saving across your pay each month, or as a lump sum if you claim after the tax year has ended.
03 Claiming actual costs instead
If your real additional costs are higher than £6 a week — a home office needing extra heating through a cold winter, a second broadband line, higher electricity use from running two monitors all day — you can claim the actual figure. This requires bills and a defensible method for separating business use from normal household use.
In Tom's case, £184 actual costs works out lower than the £312 flat-rate claim would have given him — so the flat rate is the better option for him despite the extra paperwork actual costs would involve. This is exactly why most people should start with the flat rate: it's often more generous than the real number, without needing a single receipt.
04 How to submit the claim
Check eligibility on GOV.UK
HMRC's online eligibility checker confirms whether your specific working arrangement qualifies before you start the claim.
Claim via the online P87 service
If your claim is under £2,500 for the year, you use HMRC's online P87 form, accessible through your Government Gateway account. Most flat-rate claims take a few minutes.
Choose flat rate or actual costs
Select the £6-a-week flat rate for a no-evidence claim, or enter your actual costs with supporting figures if that produces a larger claim.
Wait for your tax code adjustment or refund
HMRC typically adjusts your tax code so the relief is spread across future pay, or issues a refund directly if you're claiming for a year that's already ended.
Already registered for Self Assessment? Claim through your return instead of the P87 — entering it as an employment expense on the relevant section, rather than filing a separate P87 form.
05 Self-employed people: different rules
Everything above applies to employees. If you're self-employed, the £6-a-week employee flat rate doesn't apply to you at all — instead you use HMRC's simplified expenses flat rates based on hours worked from home each month, or claim a proportion of actual household costs against your business profit. See our full guide to self-employed expenses for the specific rates and how to calculate them.
06 Mistakes that get claims rejected
| Mistake | Why it fails |
|---|---|
| Claiming because you chose to work from home under a hybrid policy | Not a requirement in HMRC's eyes — the office was available |
| Claiming rent or mortgage interest as a cost | Not allowable for employees, only for genuine additional running costs |
| Claiming broadband in full when it's also used personally | Only the identifiable extra business-use portion counts |
| Assuming the pandemic easement still applies | It ended 5 April 2022 — current rules require an employer requirement |
07 Frequently asked questions
Only if your employer requires those specific days at home rather than you choosing them. If your contract simply allows flexible working and you're picking which days suit you, HMRC treats that as your choice, not a requirement, and the claim would normally be refused.
You can claim for the current tax year plus the four previous tax years, provided you met the eligibility criteria in each year you're claiming for. Each year is assessed separately against that year's working arrangement.
HMRC doesn't usually ask for formal employer confirmation upfront for a straightforward flat-rate claim, but you should be able to produce evidence, such as your contract or a written policy, if HMRC queries the claim later.
The £6 weekly figure claimed is the same for everyone, but the actual tax relief you receive depends on your tax rate — 20% of £6 for a basic-rate taxpayer, 40% for higher rate, 45% for additional rate, since the relief is a percentage of the amount claimed, not a flat cash refund.
If your employer pays you up to £6 a week tax-free for home working costs, you cannot also claim tax relief on top of that from HMRC — the two are alternatives, not additive. You can only claim the difference if your employer pays less than £6 a week and you have grounds to claim actual higher costs instead.
Not sure if you qualify?
DKAT Accountants checks your specific working arrangement, calculates whether the flat rate or actual costs suits you better, and handles the claim on a fixed fee.
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