Business use of home

As an employee or a director working from home, you are allowed to reclaim reasonable ‘work from home’ expenses from your company.

Flat rate basis

HMRC allows you to reclaim a flat rate per month, depending on the number of hours a month you would typically work from home. Well actually, the flat rates are published for the self employed but on occasion we meet a director/employee who opts to use the flat rate rather than calculate an actual cost.

You don’t need to provide any records of the household expenses you’re claiming relief for.

25 to 50 hours a month =  £10
51 to 100 hours a month = £18
101 and more hours a month = £26

Actual cost basis

If you believe and can prove by way of a ‘fair and reasonable’ calculation that your actual costs are higher than £4 per week, then you may claim the higher sum.  You will need supporting evidence to show that the amount you are claiming is no more than the additional household expenses you have actually incurred.

You can claim:

Actual costs, which may include;

Light, heat and power expenses
Calls made on your home telephone or a second business line if incurred for business purposes
Insurance, if there is business equipment insured under that policy
Repairs if incurred on business equipment
ISP/broadband costs, subject to the contract
NOT ALLOWED IF the contract was in place before you started working from home
A proportion of invoiced cleaning costs of your workspace
NOT ALLOWED IF you pay cash wages with no receipt  to a cleaner
Rent  – only where you have incurred additional rental charges wholly and exclusively for the purpose of running your business

You cannot claim:

Mortgage capital, interest or rent on your home as you would have incurred these anyway
Water rates
Any other expenses that do not have receipts

The rules for directors and employees who work from home differ slightly to the self employed. Directors and employees are not allowed to claim rent or mortgage interest whereas the self employed can. A director, may however be able to rent out part of their property to the business and claim tax relief on mortgage interest and rent. This almost always results in a higher claim, however this leads to a potential for Business Rates, Increased Insurance and possibly CGT on eventual sale of the property.

Calculating an actual cost claim

% Space: Calculate the proportion of household space you use for business – No. of rooms used for business / No. of usable rooms in the house (exc. kitchens and bathrooms) – or square footage if your rooms are of disproportionate size
% Time: Calculate the amount of time the space is used for business. Hours per week used for business / 168 hours (24 x 7)
3. % to Claim = % Space x % Time
4. £ to Claim = the allowable costs x % to Claim

Get in touch

If you would like further information on these areas please contact one of the team.

Phone: 01508 333040
Email:office@abcabacus.co.uk
Website: abcabacus.co.uk