“I received £185 after doing the Martin Lewis HMRC tax check which took me 5 minutes”

Thousands of people could be missing out on an often overlooked tax benefit. During covid, anyone who worked from home – even for a day – could claim a year’s worth of tax credit to help cover the costs of heat or electricity.

At the time, Martin Lewis and the Money Saving Expert website urged everyone to claim the tax break, as anyone who paid tax was likely to qualify. And although this has been changed in 2022, thousands of people will still be eligible for the money – but they have to apply.

Elaine Cooper, from Hartlepool, was reminded of Martin Lewis’ advice a week ago – and after a check that took less than five minutes, she has now received a £185 tax rebate. She said: “I applied during covid but never thought about it afterwards.

“My husband had seen something that reminded him of the advice, so I thought I’d give it a try. I was shocked to recover so much and so quickly.

“I didn’t realize I had to reapply every year, but I will now. I thought I might be struggling, but you don’t even have to provide proof of extra costs unless you want to claim for certain things.”

While during covid everyone who worked from home could claim for the whole year, this has since changed. You don’t have to show increased costs yet, but it’s only available to those who need to work from home rather than choose.

According to the gov.uk website, people could claim tax relief for additional household costs if they have to work at home for all or part of the week. Here’s what you need to know:

Who can apply for tax exemption

You can claim tax relief if you have to work from home, for example because:

• your job requires you to live away from your office
• your employer does not have an office

Who cannot claim tax exemption

You cannot claim tax relief if you choose to work from home. This includes if:

• the employment contract allows you to work from home part or all of the time
• you are working from home due to the coronavirus (COVID-19)
• your employer has an office, but you can’t go there sometimes because it’s full

What you can claim for

You can only claim things to do with your work, such as:

• business phone calls
• gas and electricity for your work area

You can’t claim things you use for both personal and business use, such as rent or broadband access.

How much can you claim?

You can either claim tax relief on:

• £6 per week from 6 April 2020 – you won’t need to keep evidence of the extra costs
• the exact amount of extra costs you’ve incurred over and above your weekly amount – you’ll need evidence such as receipts, invoices or contracts

You will get tax relief depending on the rate at which you pay tax. E.g:

If you pay the 20% basic rate of tax and claim tax relief on £6 a week, you will get £1.20 a week in tax relief (20% of £6).

You will usually get tax relief through a change in the tax code. You can claim for this tax year and for the previous 4 tax years.

How to claim

To check if you can claim and to make a claim if you are eligible, visit here