Use of Your Own Home as an Office
Both the following conditions must be met before a deduction can be permitted for household costs. The tests are:
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Substantive duties To satisfy this test, the expense must be incurred in actually carrying out the duties of the job. It is not enough for the expense to be relevant to the job, or to be incurred in connection with the duties of the job. Nor is it enough if the expense only puts the employee in a position to start work or keeps the employee qualified to do the work. Expenses that are incurred in preparation to carry out the duties of the employment or as training to carry out the duties of the employment are not allowable. Objective requirement It is not enough for you to demonstrate that you work from home, or even that there is an obligation placed on you to work at home. There needs to be an objective requirement resulting from the nature of the employment itself that requires some or all of the duties of the employment to be carried out at home and that those duties could not be carried out in any other place. Many employees do some of their work at home because they do not have time to complete it during the working day. This is a matter of personal choice and no claim is allowed. Some employees work at home because the place at which they usually work has limited opening hours and they need to work outside those hours. No deduction should be permitted in these cases. Even though the employer does not provide an alternative place at which all of the duties could be carried out there is no obligation that the work must be carried out at home. A deduction can only be permitted where the nature of the employment itself requires that the duties must be carried out at home and cannot be carried out in any other place. Alternative Claim Where it is difficult to calculate the exact amount of the allowable additional costs that you have incurred as a result of working at home, H M Revenue & Customs will now accept that employees who satisfy the conditions for relief, are entitled to a deduction of £3 (£2 up to 2007/08)for each week that they are required to work at home, without having to justify that figure. Individuals who wish to claim more than £3 per week will be expected to keep records and to be able to show how their figure has been calculated. |
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