Work-From-Home Tax Relief UK 2026/27

You can claim UK tax relief for working from home in 2026/27 if your employer requires you to work from home — not if you simply choose to. Since 2022 HMRC has tightened the criteria. The relief is worth £62.40/year for basic-rate taxpayers (£312 × 20%) or £124.80/year for higher-rate taxpayers (£312 × 40%). If your employer pays you £6/week tax-free instead, the relief is effectively received at source.

Who qualifies in 2026/27

HMRC updated its stance in April 2022: to claim tax relief for working from home, you must meet all of these conditions:

1. Your job requires you to live far from the office. If you could commute, you don’t qualify.
2. Your employer requires you to work from home in a formal policy or contract — not as “optional hybrid” or “Tuesdays and Thursdays when I prefer.”
3. You incurred additional household costs (heat, electricity, metered water, business calls). Council tax, rent/mortgage, and broadband don’t count as “additional” because you’d pay them regardless.
4. You weren’t reimbursed by your employer for those costs (otherwise there’s no net additional cost).

What does NOT qualify in 2026/27:

• Hybrid workers who choose 2-3 days from home.
• Employees whose office is open but prefer home.
• Anyone whose employer reimburses £6/week tax-free (the relief is already received via payroll).
• Anyone claiming in tax years before 2022/23 under looser Covid-era rules — those are closed for new claims now.

The £6-per-week flat rate (easiest claim)

HMRC’s standard allowance is £6/week = £312/year without receipts. This covers:

• Additional heating on workdays.
• Additional lighting on workdays.
• Business-purpose phone calls.
• Slightly higher electricity use from running a laptop and home office equipment.

It does not cover broadband (unless you got it specifically for work), office furniture (separate capital allowance), or rent/mortgage.

For a basic-rate taxpayer (20% band) the £312 is worth:

• £312 × 20% = £62.40/year in reduced Income Tax.

For a higher-rate taxpayer (40% band):

• £312 × 40% = £124.80/year.

For a Scottish intermediate-rate taxpayer (21% band):

• £312 × 21% = £65.52/year.

The actual-cost method (more admin, potentially larger)

If your additional WFH costs exceed £6/week, you can claim the actual amount — but must keep records. Allowable extras (prorated to business use):

• Electricity and gas — calculated as additional consumption during work hours.
• Water (if metered and some is used for work, e.g. making cups of tea at the desk — very rare).
• Business calls (not landline rental).
• Internet (additional cost over what you’d pay personally — typically £0 because most homes already have broadband).

In practice, the actual-cost method rarely beats the £6/week flat rate by enough to justify the paperwork, unless you’re running specialised equipment at significant electricity cost.

How to claim

Via your Personal Tax Account (simplest)

1. Sign in at gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home.
2. Choose “Claim tax relief for working from home.”
3. Confirm eligibility (must tick “required to work from home”).
4. Enter the tax year(s) you’re claiming for — you can backdate up to 4 tax years if eligible.
5. Submit — HMRC adjusts your tax code to recover the relief via PAYE.

Via Self Assessment (if you file a return anyway)

Include the WFH costs under “Expenses” → “Other expenses” on your tax return. Enter the annual amount (£312 for flat rate).

Via paper P87 form

Download Form P87 from gov.uk if you don’t have online access. Mail to HMRC, Pay As You Earn, BX9 1AS. Allow 6–8 weeks for processing.

Backdating: up to 4 years

HMRC allows backdating WFH tax relief up to 4 tax years if you were eligible in each. For 2026/27 you can currently backdate to 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26. If you worked from home during Covid (2020/21, 2021/22) under the old looser rules, those years are already closed for new claims — you should have claimed them by April 2026.

A basic-rate taxpayer eligible for all 4 prior years could recover approximately £250 in backdated relief on their first application (4 × £62.40 ≈ £250). Higher-rate taxpayers could recover ~£500.

Employer-paid £6/week (alternative to relief)

Some employers pay a £6/week tax-free allowance directly — this is allowed by HMRC under Extra-Statutory Concession A5 (now in statute). If your employer pays this:

• You cannot separately claim the tax relief (it’s already been given at source via the non-taxable payment).
• It appears as a non-taxable line on your payslip — no code adjustment needed.
• You’ll recognise it by seeing the £6 or £312 added back in the “Gross to Net” section but NOT increasing your tax.

Ask HR whether your employer uses this arrangement before claiming relief yourself.

Does WFH relief affect Marriage Allowance or HICBC?

Marriage Allowance: No direct effect. WFH relief reduces your taxable income by £312, which doesn’t change your PA status or MA eligibility.

High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC): The £312 WFH relief does reduce your adjusted net income — which is what HICBC is calculated from. For a parent on £60,500, claiming WFH relief reduces ANI to £60,188, potentially lowering or removing HICBC. See our HICBC explained guide.

Related

• Self Assessment 2026/27
• Understanding UK tax codes
• PAYE explained
• Salary calculator — model your take-home with WFH relief applied

Bottom line: the WFH flat-rate relief is small but free money if you qualify, and takes 5 minutes to claim via PTA. Backdate up to 4 years if you’ve never claimed. Don’t claim if you’re a discretionary hybrid worker — HMRC may demand the relief back with interest.