Working from home: the tax relief ended in April 2026

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For several years, an employee who worked from home could claim tax relief on £6 a week of household costs without keeping receipts. That claim stopped on 6 April 2026. If you are still working out your take-home pay on the assumption that it exists, this article explains what changed and what is still open to you. If you are buying a desk or a chair for your home, read the last two sections before you spend anything.

What changed

GOV.UK's page for employees now says that for the tax year 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027 you cannot claim tax relief for working from home. The policy paper behind it says the measure took effect on 6 April 2026 and removes the process for employees to claim an Income Tax deduction from HMRC for extra household costs, such as utility bills and business phone calls. HMRC estimated it would affect about 300,000 people whose employer did not reimburse those costs.

The page also says that you can still claim for the four previous tax years. If you worked from home in earlier years and never claimed, the GOV.UK page is where to check which of those years are still open.

Who could claim it before

The rules were narrower than many people assumed. GOV.UK says you could claim if you had to work from home, for example because your job required you to live far from your office or your employer had no office. You could not claim if you chose to work from home, if your contract allowed it, or if your office was full. Only costs that related to your work counted, such as business phone calls and the gas and electricity for your work area, and shared costs like rent or broadband did not qualify.

That matters for the earlier years that are still open. A claim for a past year has to meet the old rules, so working from home by choice or by agreement with your employer did not qualify. Check your own position against that list before spending time on a claim.

What it was worth

The old £6 a week was a flat rate, so the value depended only on your tax rate. Relief was given at the rate you pay, so a basic rate taxpayer got 20% of £6, or £1.20 a week.

• A full year of 52 weeks at £6 is £312. At the 20% basic rate, that is £62.40 in tax saved.
• At the 40% higher rate, the same £312 saved £124.80.

HMRC's own estimate is a loss of about £62 for basic rate taxpayers and about £124 for higher rate taxpayers, which matches. These figures use the England, Wales and Northern Ireland rates for 2026/27. Scotland has its own bands, with a starter rate of 19% and a higher rate of 42%, so the figure there depends on where your income falls.

Put in terms of your pay, the loss is about £5.20 a month at the basic rate. If you were claiming through Self Assessment, you will now see the difference in your tax bill, and if you were claiming another way, your payslips from April onwards are where it shows. The take-home pay calculator works from your salary and the standard 2026/27 rates, so it gives the figure without any claim in it.

What still applies

Employers can still reimburse home working costs without deducting Income Tax or National Insurance, according to the same policy paper. The change only affects employees who claimed the relief for themselves. That makes the employer the route now. Worth asking HR or payroll:

• Do you reimburse home working costs, and at what rate?
• Is there a form, or is it paid automatically?
• Does it show on the payslip as a separate line?

An employer is not required to say yes. The sensible thing is to ask once, in writing, and keep the answer.

Equipment is a separate question

Reimbursing household costs and providing equipment are different things. For equipment, health and safety law is the relevant rule. HSE's guidance says the Display Screen Equipment Regulations can apply to people who work at home permanently, long-term or split time between home and a workplace, and who use a screen daily for continuous periods of an hour or more. Where they apply, the employer must assess the individual's workstation, and a trained worker can do a self-assessment. If the assessment shows the employer needs to provide equipment, HSE says workers "cannot be charged for this".

So before buying a chair or a monitor, ask whether an assessment has been done. If it has and it identifies something you need, the employer pays. The rule does not cover occasional use, and it does not say you can charge the employer for anything you decide to buy on your own.

If you decide to buy something yourself

With the tax relief gone, there is no tax refund on anything you buy for a home office, so the whole cost is yours. Spending is worth it when it fixes something specific. A few categories, and what to check:

• A chair. Look at the height range and whether the seat depth can be adjusted. An Ad adjustable desk chair with lumbar support is a category rather than a single product. Check the listing states the height adjustment range and the maximum user weight.
• Screen height. A laptop on a table puts the screen low. A Ad laptop stand lifts it. Once it is raised, the laptop's own keyboard is too high to use comfortably, so a Ad separate keyboard and mouse goes with it.
• Phone calls. If calls are part of the job, a Ad USB headset with a microphone saves holding a handset against your shoulder.
• Power and cables. A Ad surge-protected extension lead with a cable cover keeps a laptop, a monitor and a charger on one plug.

Anything you buy for work and are not reimbursed for is, for tax purposes, a personal cost now. Keep the receipt in the folder described in what to keep from your pay records, in case your employer agrees to reimburse it later.