Working From Home - Tax Benefits ?

[JonMaou]

Hi
I'm about to start a new job that will involve working from home.
My home will be my main business place and I will have to travel to the office in another part of the country each month. (the company will cover those costs etc )

Couple of questions..
I'm having a room converted to work from. Can I claim any of the costs for this as tax relief / benefits ?
Will I be able to claim anything for the extra gas, electric, heating.. etc ?
Do I claim this from my employer or direct ? any idea how much this works out at ?

Thanks
Jon

[mullet]

The cost of the room conversion is not allowable, as it is capital expenditure. HMRC allows a flat rate deduction of £3 per week for heat and light etc. Guidance is at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-household.htm

If you are employed specifically to work at or from home, and have no alternative but to do so, you may be able to get tax relief on some of your household expenses. You can go back several years to get the relief - the time you've got depends on whether you've previously sent in a Self Assessment tax return.

If you have to work at or from home you can get tax relief for the extra household expenses that you have to pay. Typically these extra expenses include:

the extra cost of gas and electricity to heat and light your work area
business telephone calls

You won't be able to get relief on domestic expenses that you're paying anyway - like your mortgage or council tax. You also won't be able to get relief for expenses that relate to both business and private use - such as your telephone line rental, or Internet access.

You can get either:

A flat rate deduction of £3.00 per week (from 2008-09) for each week that you've got to work at home. This doesn't include the cost of business telephone calls.
A larger amount if your extra expenses are higher than £3.00 - but you'll have to show how you've calculated the figure.