Working from home tax relief: 2026/27 rules

Can you still claim working from home tax relief?

Employees cannot claim working from home tax relief for 2026/27, which runs from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. You can still claim for the previous four tax years, 2022/23 to 2025/26, if you had to work from home and met the conditions.

Employer payments and self-employed expenses follow different rules. An employer can still pay a qualifying tax-free working from home allowance. Self-employed people can claim simplified expenses or a reasonable business share of actual household costs.

Employees: who qualified for tax relief for working from home?

For an eligible earlier year, you must have had to work from home. Examples include a job requiring you to live far from the office, or an employer with no office. Choosing to work at home does not qualify. That includes a contract allowing home working or an office that is sometimes full.

Only costs connected with work qualify, such as business phone calls and gas or electricity for your work area. You cannot claim rent or broadband used privately too.

The claim can use £6 a week or the exact qualifying amount spent. You receive relief at your tax rate, rather than the full amount claimed. At the 20% basic rate, relief on £6 is £1.20 a week.

See HMRC's employee working from home guidance for eligibility and claims.

Backdated claims: how far back can you claim?

As at 30 October 2026, claims remain possible for 2022/23, 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26. Check each year against the requirement to work from home. The end of employee relief in 2026/27 does not remove eligible claims for those earlier years.

You need evidence that you had to work from home, including for £6 a week claims from 2022/23 onwards. If you claim the exact amount, you also need receipts or bills supporting the costs.

Employer payments: is the £6 a week allowance still tax-free?

Yes. An employer can still pay additional household costs tax-free where you work at home as agreed with the employer and regularly do so under those arrangements. This is separate from claiming employee tax relief from HMRC.

The employer can pay up to £6 a week, or £26 a month for monthly paid employees, without evidence of the extra costs. Payments above that need evidence of actual additional costs. Otherwise, the excess is earnings through payroll.

Reimbursed broadband is tax-free only if no connection already existed, it is needed for home working and it is mainly for business use.

Read HMRC's homeworking expenses and benefits guidance before arranging payments.

Self-employed: allowances for working from home

If you are self-employed, you can use simplified expenses or a proportion of actual costs. The HMRC working from home allowance under simplified expenses depends on your monthly hours of business use at home. You need at least 25 hours a month to use the flat rate.

For example, 10 months of business use at 25 to 50 hours a month gives a flat-rate claim of £100. Phone and internet are excluded from the flat rate. You can claim their business-use costs separately.

With the actual-cost method, use a reasonable split of heating, electricity, council tax, mortgage interest or rent. Rooms used and the time spent using them for business can form the basis of that split. Keep the calculation and the bills behind it.

Compare HMRC's simplified homeworking expenses with our guide to sole trader allowable expenses.

Limited company directors: use of home as office

A company can pay a director the same £6 a week tax-free homeworking amount where the employer conditions above are met. There must be agreed homeworking arrangements and regular home working under them.

Larger use of home as office payments or rent arrangements have tax consequences and need advice. Speak to an accountant before setting them up. See our limited company accounting service.

How to claim working from home expenses

• Employees claiming for earlier years: use the HMRC online service linked from its employee guidance. If you file a Self Assessment return, claim through your tax return instead.
• Employees receiving employer payments: agree the homeworking arrangements with your employer and check that payments meet the employer rules.
• Self-employed people: calculate your simplified expenses or business share of actual costs for your Self Assessment return.
• Company directors: check the employer conditions before the company pays the homeworking amount. Get advice on larger arrangements.

If you need help with the return, see our Self Assessment service.

Records to keep

• Evidence that you had to work from home for an employee claim for an eligible earlier year.
• Receipts and bills supporting employee claims for the exact amount spent.
• Agreed employer homeworking arrangements and records of payments. Keep evidence of actual extra costs for payments above the flat amount.
• Monthly business-use hours for self-employed simplified expenses.
• Household bills and a clear rooms-and-time calculation for actual costs, plus business-use calculations for phone and internet.