Work-From-Home Tax Relief UK 2026/27

Employees can no longer claim tax relief for working from home from 6 April 2026. What still works - employer payments and claims for earlier years.

2026/27 tax year

Employment & Career

Employees cannot claim tax relief for working from home in 2026/27. From 6 April 2026, section 360B of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 says no deduction from earnings is allowed for additional household expenses an employee incurs working at home (ITEPA 2003 s.360B, inserted by Finance Act 2026 s.21 with effect for 2026/27 onwards). HMRC’s manual puts it plainly: “From 6 April 2026 onwards, a deduction from earnings is no longer permitted for an employee’s additional household expenses” (EIM32759).

That ends the £6-a-week claim employees used to make through HMRC. Two things survive: your employer can still pay you tax-free for homeworking costs, and you can still claim for earlier tax years if you qualified then.

What changed on 6 April 2026

Before 6 April 2026 an employee could deduct additional household costs under ITEPA 2003 s.336 if they were required to work from home, not choosing to (EIM32760). From 2026/27 that deduction is gone for everyone, including employees who genuinely have no office to go to. GOV.UK now says: “From the tax year 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, you will not be able to claim tax relief for working from home” (GOV.UK).

What the change does not touch (EIM32759 names travel and the employer exemption; the other items are separate reliefs under their own rules):

Employer homeworking payments under ITEPA 2003 s.316A remain tax-free (see below).
Travel expenses under ITEPA 2003 s.337 are unaffected. Where your home is a workplace, the cost of travel from home to another workplace may still qualify (EIM32759, pointing to EIM32370).
Other job expenses such as flat-rate uniform and tools expenses, professional subscriptions and mileage are separate reliefs and are not affected by s.360B.

Employer-paid homeworking allowance (still tax-free)

Your employer can pay you to cover the reasonable additional household costs of working at home under homeworking arrangements, and the payment is exempt from Income Tax under ITEPA 2003 s.316A. HMRC confirms the exemption “continues to apply” from April 2026 (EIM32759).

Guideline rate: £6 a week, or £26 a month for monthly-paid employees, from 6 April 2020. At that rate the employer does not have to justify the amount and you do not have to keep records (EIM01476).
It is not a maximum. Your employer can pay more if it can show the higher amount reflects real additional costs, through an agreed scale rate or by reimbursing actual costs (EIM01476).
Hybrid working can count. The arrangement has to be agreed with your employer and you have to work at home regularly under it, but it does not have to be full-time. HMRC’s example of 3 days in the office and 2 at home counts as regular (EIM01472). Taking work home in the evenings informally does not.

The exemption covers payments your employer makes. It does not let you deduct costs your employer does not pay (EIM01472). If you work from home and your employer pays nothing, the only route left for 2026/27 is to ask your employer whether it will set up a homeworking payment.

Claiming for earlier tax years

The abolition applies from 2026/27. GOV.UK says “You can still claim for the 4 previous tax years” (GOV.UK). The legal time limit is 4 years after the end of the tax year the claim relates to (TMA 1970 s.43), so during 2026/27 the open years are 2022/23 to 2025/26, and the 2022/23 window closes at the end of 5 April 2027.

A claim for those years still has to meet the old test: you must have been required to work from home. GOV.UK says you cannot claim if you chose to, including where your contract lets you work from home some or all of the time, or where the office exists but is sometimes full (GOV.UK). HMRC’s full conditions are in EIM32760.

For a qualifying earlier year you could claim relief on either £6 a week or the exact extra amount you spent, and you get relief at your tax rate: GOV.UK’s example is £1.20 a week for a 20% taxpayer (20% of £6). If you claim £6 a week for 2022/23 or later you must send evidence that you had to work from home; an exact-amount claim also needs receipts or bills (GOV.UK).

You cannot claim if your employer paid you back in full, and if your employer paid some of the cost you can only claim the part they did not pay (GOV.UK).

How to claim an earlier year

Online through the GOV.UK service linked from Tax relief for employees - working from home.
By post on form P87 if your total job-expenses claim for the year is £2,500 or less and you are within 4 years of the end of that tax year (GOV.UK P87 guidance).
Through Self Assessment if you file a return: GOV.UK says you must claim there instead, and a claim above £2,500 needs a return.

Self-employed people are not affected

Section 360B applies to employees’ deductions from earnings. Sole traders and partners working from home still have the separate trading rules: either actual apportioned costs (BIM47820) or the simplified-expenses flat rates of £10, £18 or £26 a month for 25-50, 51-100 or 101+ hours a month (GOV.UK simplified expenses). Company directors are employees of their company, so s.360B applies to them.

Bottom line: for 2026/27 there is nothing for an employee to claim from HMRC for working from home. If your employer pays a homeworking allowance, up to £6 a week needs no justification and is tax-free. If you were required to work from home in 2022/23 to 2025/26 and never claimed, those years are still open, with 2022/23 closing on 5 April 2027.