Working from home allowance: HMRC's rules for 2026/27

There is still a working from home allowance in 2026/27, but only one kind. Since 6 April 2026, employees can no longer claim tax relief from HMRC for the extra household costs of working at home. What survives is the employer's version: your employer can pay you up to £6 a week (or £26 a month if you are paid monthly) towards those costs, free of tax and National Insurance, as long as you work from home regularly under an arrangement with them. You can also still claim the old relief for earlier years, if you had to work from home.

So the money has not gone. It has moved from HMRC's side of the table to your employer's.

What changed on 6 April 2026

Before April, an employee who had to work from home could claim tax relief on £6 a week, no receipts needed, or on the exact extra costs with evidence. By HMRC's account it was not always claimed by the people it was meant for: its impact note says over half of the claims it checked were ineligible.

Budget 2025 removed it. Finance Act 2026 added a new section 360B to the employment income rules: no deduction for additional household expenses an employee incurs working at home, from 2026/27 onwards. The Treasury confirmed on 27 October 2026 that relief for non-reimbursed homeworking expenses was withdrawn from 6 April 2026.

Three things the change did not touch: payments from your employer, travel from home to another workplace (HMRC's manual says so explicitly; see the temporary workplace rules), and anyone working for themselves.

HMRC puts the loss at £62 a year for basic rate taxpayers and £124 for higher rate taxpayers. Not a fortune, but enough to justify a polite email to payroll.

The employer's £6 a week: the working from home allowance that's left

Your employer can pay you towards the extra cost of working at home without taking tax or National Insurance off it, and without reporting it, if two things are true.

1. There is a homeworking arrangement. You work at home by agreement with your employer, instead of at their premises. It does not have to be in writing, though it usually is, and hybrid or flexible working can count.
2. You work at home regularly under it. HMRC's example: three days a week in the office and two at home is regular, even if the home days move around. Taking work home in the evenings is not an arrangement, however diligent it makes you look.

Within that, there are two ways to pay:

• The flat rate. Up to £6 a week, or £26 a month for monthly paid staff. The employer does not have to justify it and you do not have to keep records of your bills.
• More, with evidence. £6 is a guideline, not a ceiling. An employer can pay more if it can show the extra costs are really that high, either with an agreed scale rate or by repaying each person's actual extra costs from their records. Anything paid above the real extra cost is taxable pay and goes through payroll.

What counts as an extra household cost

HMRC's manual lists the kind of thing it means: heating and lighting the work area, metered water, higher internet charges, home contents insurance, business phone calls, and business rates if working at home triggers them.

It does not include costs you would pay anyway, such as mortgage interest, rent, Council Tax or water rates, or the cost of getting set up, such as building work, furniture or office equipment. Equipment has its own rules.

Equipment, phones and broadband

Kit your employer provides, or repays you for, is tax-free if it is only for work or any private use is insignificant: laptops, desks, chairs, pens and paper. One mobile phone and SIM per employee is exempt even with private use. Broadband your employer pays for is tax-free only if you did not already have a connection, you need it to work from home, and it is mainly used for work. Equipment provided for both work and private use goes on a P11D, with Class 1A National Insurance for the employer.

If you buy substantial equipment yourself because the job needs it, with no significant private use, GOV.UK says you may still be able to claim tax relief on it as a capital allowance. That is a different relief from the household costs one, and it was not removed.

If you run a team, put the £6 (or your chosen evidence-based rate) in your expenses policy so nobody has to ask twice.

Backdating: claiming for 2022/23 to 2025/26

Employees can still claim the old relief for the four tax years before 2026/27, through a P87, HMRC's online service, or your Self Assessment return if you file one. The rules for those years are the old ones, and they are strict.

You cannot claim for things with mixed private and business use, such as rent or broadband, and relief is at your tax rate: £6 a week is worth £1.20 a week to a basic rate taxpayer. The COVID-era rule, where being sent home by the pandemic was enough, covered only 2020/21 and 2021/22, both now out of time.

The oldest year still open is 2022/23, and four years means it closes on 5 April 2027.

Directors of their own company

Directors are taxed on their pay as employees of the company, so the same employer rules apply: the company can pay you £6 a week tax-free if you regularly work from home under an arrangement with it, or more with evidence. What you cannot do any longer is skip the payment and claim relief personally. Our guide to allowable expenses for a limited company covers the rest of what the company can pay for.

Self-employed: use of home

None of this changed for sole traders and partners. You claim use of home as a business expense, in one of two ways.

Simplified expenses. A flat monthly amount, if you work 25 hours or more a month from home:

GOV.UK's example: 40 hours a month for 10 months and 60 hours in two busy months is 10 × £10 plus 2 × £18, or £136 for the year. The flat rate does not include phone or internet, so claim the business share of those bills separately.

Actual costs. Work out the business share of heating, lighting, cleaning and metered water by a reasonable method, such as rooms and hours. If part of the home is used only for the business for a period, a share of fixed costs such as mortgage interest, rent, Council Tax and insurance can be claimed too. More in our guide to allowable expenses for sole traders.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still claim the working from home allowance in 2026/27?

Not from HMRC. From 6 April 2026 employees cannot claim tax relief for working from home. Your employer can still pay you up to £6 a week tax-free.

Can I claim working from home on my Self Assessment tax return?

As an employee, only for 2025/26 and earlier, and only if you had to work from home. As a self-employed person, yes: use of home is a business expense, claimed with the flat rate or the actual costs.

Is the working from home allowance taxable?

Not if your employer pays up to £6 a week (£26 a month) under a regular homeworking arrangement, or more backed by evidence of your extra costs. Anything above the real extra costs is taxable pay.

How far back can I claim working from home tax relief?

Four tax years before 2026/27, so 2022/23 to 2025/26, with evidence that you had to work from home. 2022/23 closes on 5 April 2027.

Where ClaimSnappy fits

ClaimSnappy keeps the receipts and the reasons; it does not decide whether you qualify. A desk chair or headset your employer has agreed to repay goes on a claim like any other receipt, filed under IT and home office, and you build and send the claim yourself, with a PDF, a CSV and the receipt photos attached. On a team desk it can go to a manager for approval first.

If you are preparing a P87 from Reports, any line that says it is for working from home and is dated from 6 April 2026 is left off the form, with the reason: tax relief ended, and your employer can repay it tax-free instead. Earlier years go on the form as "WFH", as HMRC's form asks, with a reminder that HMRC wants proof you had to work from home. Self-employed desks get a Self Assessment working sheet in Reports, laid out as the SA103S expense boxes.

Every account starts with a 30-day trial, no card needed. After that it is £5 a month on Solo, or £25 a month for a team with six people included. Compare plans.

The tax rules are HMRC's; your employer decides whether to pay the £6. If your situation is borderline, an accountant will cost less than a rejected claim.