Working from home - claiming tax back

[Whatliesbeneath707]

If I wanted to claim tax back for working from home (WFH) for the last 2 years, do I need to input info for how much gas/electricity I have used?
I want to claim but wouldn't know how to calculate energy use over that time. I do qualify for WFH.
Can anyone advise please, & is it worth it?
Thanks.

If you're claiming for yrs 20/21/22 no you don't need to enter your energy usage. If you're claiming for previous years I think you would need to.

If you pay 20% rate then it works out to be about £60 per year.

HMRC had a ‘micro site’ set up for this which made claiming quite straightforward (you will need to already have a Government Gateway ID set up or do it during the process though) but I’m not sure if the micro site is still available.

Website here explains it all:
www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home

By far the easiest thing to do is claim the relief at the fixed amount of £6/week. There is the option to instead claim relief on the exact extra you've been paying on bills (phone, gas, water, electricity), but you need evidence to back that up.

No, dh's company did it for him automatically. It's a set amount unless I've got it completely wrong. Definitely didn't have to give energy readings.

Thanks everyone. I've gone back into it via HMRC and I think things must have changed as when I apply for flat rate, it asks me to state how much my expenses have been. When I try to enter my occupation (education), it comes up with a max allowed as £60 & then asks how much my expenses are. I can't seem to get past this part. Any suggestions please?

I did this in March & at the time it said the micro site was being disbanded as of April unfortunately.
I guess that's what you've found & anyone working from home wanting to claim will have to do the same, me & DH included going forward.

Your energy usage is detailed on your energy bills.

Looks like they've changed the guidance from April 2022 onwards so you can't now claim if your employer has continued with hybrid working following the pandemic, but you could go into work on your working from home days. Assuming reducing staff at the work location to enhance social distancing doesn't count as 'no appropriate facilities...'?

"One of the following must also apply:

there are no appropriate facilities available for you to perform your job on your employer's premises
the nature of the job requires you to live so far from the employer's premises that it is unreasonable for you to travel to those premises on a daily basis
you are required, under government restrictions, to work from home"