New claims required for home working tax relief

Employees who are working from home will need to make new claims for tax relief for the 2021/22 tax year, HMRC has stated.
From April 2020, employers have been able to pay employees up to £6 a week tax fee to cover additional costs if they have had to work from home.
Employees who have not received the working from home expenses payment direct from their employer can apply to receive the tax relief from HMRC.
HMRC has also confirmed that the £6 per week payment is available in full, even if an employee splits their time between home and the office
The allowance is to cover tax-deductible additional costs that employees who are required to work from home have incurred, such as heating and lighting the workroom and business telephone calls.
You may be able to claim tax relief for additional household costs if you have to work at home on a regular basis, either for all or part of the week. This includes if you have to work from home because of coronavirus (Covid-19)
You’re only able to claim tax relief for equipment you need for work, but you might be able to claim tax relief for
• Gas and electricity
• Metered water
• Business phone calls, including dial-up internet access
You cannot claim the whole bill, just the part that relates to your work.
How much can you claim?
You can either claim tax relief on:
• £6 a week from 6 April 2020 (for previous tax years the rate is £4 a week)-
You will not need to keep evidence of your extra costs
• The exact amount of extra costs you’ve incurred above the weekly amount – you’ll need evidence such as receipts, bills or contracts
Also, you may be able to claim tax relief on the cost of:
• Repairing or replacing small tools you need to do your job (for example scissors or an electric drill)
• Cleaning, repairing, or replacing specialist clothing (for example, a uniform or safety boots
You’ll get tax relief based on the rate at which you pay tax. For example, if you pay the 20% basic rate of tax and claim tax relief on £6 a week you would get £1.20 per week in tax relief (20% of £6)