During the COVID pandemic the government relaxed the conditions to enable those working from home to be paid £6 a week tax free by their employer, or, where that was not paid by the employer, they could claim relief for £6 a week against their employment income for a tax refund from HMRC.

Those relaxed rules applied for 2020/21 and 2021/22 tax years. Many employers and employees may not be aware that from 6 April 2022 the rules reverted to the strict statutory position.

Employees can claim tax relief if they have to work from home under a homeworking agreement, for example because:

• their job requires them to live far away from the office,
• their employer does not have an office, or
• the office is closed every Friday and employees are required to work from home that day.

Tax relief cannot be claimed if the employee choses to work from home.