Since the pandemic, most of us in recruitment have at least for some periods been working from home. There have been advantages, speaking to a lot of recruiters from right across the recruitment industry many would like to see it carry on post-pandemic, but at what financial cost?
Obviously being at home does mean some disadvantages. Other than not seeing friends and getting that interaction there’s the additional issue of more expense.
If you’ve not got much time here’s the abridged version
>You’ll get between £60 and £125 depending on your tax bracket.
>Login on to: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/claim-tax-relief-expenses/only-claiming-working-from-home-tax-relief
>To claim these expenses, you need a Government Gateway user ID and password. (You can create a user ID if you do not already have one – you’ll need your National Insurance number and a recent payslip or P60 or a valid UK passport
Things like heating, internet, or simply water use costs will obviously be more expensive to you as you work from home. So too would any additional equipment you need that your recruitment agency haven’t provided you with. It’s impossible to work in recruitment without a laptop /computer or phone so if you haven’t been given one by work, you’re going to want to at least be able to claim something back from the purchase!
Luckily the government has recognised this and unknown to a lot of recruiters we’ve spoken to you can apply for a tax break to help with some of the cost for these factors.
This blog is really focused on working from home tax relief, as I’m hoping most of your recruitment employers will have provided you with work equipment. And if they haven’t you can find out more about claiming tax back on equipment from the below link (plus you may want to think about giving a rec2rec a call or looking for new recruitment consultant jobs😉)
https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/buying-other-equipment
Before going any further it would be worth checking what your company is currently doing as there are a couple of ways to receive the tax relief. It may be that your recruitment employer has already set it up so that the money is in your pay package monthly and you just haven’t noticed it yet! In all honesty, we doubt it, as it’s not well publicised so we’re not surprised.
Check first and if this isn’t the case it will be down to you to claim the tax relief through HMRC. Don’t panic it’s much easier than the usual reams of paperwork as the system has been streamlined to make it smoother with so many people likely to claim. Also, you will only need to claim once and it will cover you from April 2020 through to March 2021 as it will change your tax code for this period.
Most of you will be able to claim even if your back in your workplace full time now as the government doesn’t want to faff about with whether or not someone only worked from home for a short period and will cover the year regardless.
To claim you just need to go to the government website and access a dedicated HMRC portal that was created:
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/claim-tax-relief-expenses/only-claiming-working-from-home-tax-relief
As long as it hasn’t been your choice to work from home (but more that work have required it for coronavirus or any other reason) you can claim even if you only work from home a portion of the week
So the exciting bit – how much can you claim? Well, it’s not a lottery win but bear with us…..
The current working from home tax relief amount is on £6 per week and assuming you’re paying 20% tax it would work out as £1.20 a week relief. Obviously paying more or less tax will make the amount go up or down.
Doesn’t sound a lot but add it over the course of 52 weeks of the year and that’s £62.40 for 10 minutes and if you pay more tax then it could be around £124.80.
Or if you have the time and inclination you can claim more as long as you can evidence your expenses with receipts, bills, and contracts. We’re thinking that might be quite a hefty amount of organisation. But you’re a recruiter, right? So surely organisation is up there on your skills list???!
Navado Talent is a Bristol Rec2Rec serving all recruitment markets across the UK and covering both 180 and 360 recruitment jobs right up to leadership roles. Whether you're looking for a Bristol rec2recto help you recruit for your team or looking for your next recruitment job Navado need's to be your first call.