The Covid pandemic has dramatically impacted our ways of working with almost half of the population’s employment situation affected and34% of those now remote working. In fact Ireland reported one of the highest work from home rates at the height of the crisis.
If your work situation was impacted and if you have been working remotely from home, you may be eligible for tax back relief on utility bills associated with the costs of working from home.
These bills include electricity, heat and broadband. Find out if you are eligible below and how you can claim ‘eworking’ tax relief.
How to know if you are eligible?
According to revenue, there are two main equirements you need to meet in order to be eligible for remote working tax back.
1. You must have a formal agreement with your employer that you are required to work from home
2. You must be required to perform essential duties of employment at home
In short, you are required to work from home, and you can complete your work tasks from home. However you are not entitled to claim tax relief if you choose to work extra hours for home – for example if you work mainly outside of your home but work extra hours in the evenings or at weekends from home.
Tax back claims can be made on the below utility bills only, not other expense such as furniture.
· Heating Bills (10%)
· Electricity Bills (10%)
· Broadband Bills (30%)
How can you claim?
There are two main ways to receive your tax back – via your employer or via revenue.ie. Check with your employer if you are unsure. Any claims must be backed up with receipts and a letter from your employer may also be requested.
Via your employer
If your employer pays you an allowance towards these expenses, you can get up to €3.20 per day without paying any tax, PRSI or USC on the amount. It is is important to note you can be taxed on amounts above €3.20
Via revenue.ie
However, if your employer does not pay your allowance, you can make a claim for tax relief at the end of the year via revenue.ie
How is your tax refund determined?
Your refund is determined on:
· How many days you worked from home
· The cost of the expenses
· Revenue’s agreed rate for calculating the cost of running a home office
Any tax refunds are only available for the days that you work from home. This does not include times you may have brought work home to do outside your normal working hours.
If your employer pays you an allowance towards your expenses, the amount paid is deducted from the amount you can claim back from Revenue.
How to calculate eWorking costs
To calculate your electricity and heat eWorking costs:
Multiply your allowable utility bills (heat and electricity) by the number of eWorking days
Divide by 365
Multiply by 10% (0.1)
To calculate your broadband eWorking cost:
Multiply your bill by the number of eWorking days
Divide by 365
Multiply by 30% (0.3)
If the cost is shared between two or more people, it can be apportioned based on the amount each paid.
How to claim eWorking tax relief
As per the information on Revenue.ie eWorking expenses can be claimed by completing an Income Tax return. You can complete this form on the Revenue website as follows:
· Sign into myAccount (you will need your PPS number to create an account if you don’t already have one)
· Click on ‘Review your tax’ link in PAYE Services;
· Select the Income Tax return for the relevant tax year;
· Select ‘Other PAYE Expenses’ in the ‘Tax Credits and Reliefs’ page and insert the amount of expense at the ‘Amount Claimed’ section.
For more information and calculation examples visit Revenue.ie
For more employment insights visit our Career Advice Centretoget in touch with one of our recruiters for any job queries.