Finance experts are advising self-employed individuals and those working from home that they might be able to claim a portion of their heating and household bills against their tax bill. If you're a sole trader operating from home, you can list your heating as a running cost for your business, potentially reducing your tax bills.
Similarly, you could be eligible to claim tax relief for additional household expenses if you're required to work from home for all or part of the week. However, there are strict eligibility criteria for making a claim, with details provided by HMRC here.
Tax relief can be claimed if you're required to work from home, such as if your job necessitates living far from your office or if your employer doesn't have an office. However, you cannot claim tax relief if you choose to work from home, including if your employment contract allows you to work from home some or all of the time, or if your employer has an office but you can't go there sometimes because it's full.
You can only claim for work-related expenses, such as business phone calls or gas and electricity for your work area. Claims are made through Self Assessment tax returns, which must be filed by January 31. Notably, you can claim for this tax year and the four previous tax years.
The tax rules specify that workers cannot claim for items used for both private and business use, such as rent or broadband access. You can either claim tax relief on £6 a week or the exact amount you’ve spent. Mike Parkes, technical director at GoSimpleTax, explained: "It is possible to claim for electricity and gas bills – to do this, self-employed people need to reliably and accurately work out the proportion of business and personal use.".
