Working from home? Your guide to e-worker tax relief

With more and more of us working from home these days, interest in the tax relief available to those working away from the office has skyrocketed. 

The good news is that if you work from home it's possible to claim tax relief on certain expenses such as electricity, heating, and even your broadband.

So what’s available and how do you claim? Read on to find out everything you need to know.

Who’s eligible?

E-working is where you work from home for a substantial period on either a full-time or part-time basis. 

To qualify as an e-worker you must:

• Have some type of formal agreement with your employer that you are required to work from home
• Be required to perform essential duties of employment at home

Doing ad-hoc work at home or bringing some work home to finish off in the evening or at the weekend does not qualify as working from home.

What’s available?

The first relief is available directly from your employer. 

Employer tax relief 

It’s possible for employers to pay staff up to €3.20 per day, or €768 per annum, tax free. In other words you won’t pay any PRSI, income tax, or USC on this money received from your employer.

Your employer is also free to pay you more than €3.20 a day but you will pay tax in the normal way on any payment above this amount. 

However, employers are under no legal obligation to pay this.

If your employer doesn’t pay you anything you can claim tax relief on your expenses at the end of the year as explained below.

Employee tax relief

The expenses against which you can claim tax relief are:

• Electricity  
• Heating
• Broadband 
• Other vouched expenses where they are “wholly, exclusively and necessarily” part of your work, as outlined by the minister for finance in Budget 2021

Previously only electricity and heating costs could be claimed. However Budget 2021 expanded the costs against which you can claim relief. 

However things such as laptops, computers, office equipment and office furniture that you may have purchased are not vouched expenses according to Revenue and are not allowable costs.

How much can I claim?

Not a lot to be honest.

Since 2022 you can claim tax relief on up to 30% of your heating and electricity costs (previously 10%) and up to 30% of your broadband costs.

However 30% is the absolute maximum you can apply for and would only be possible if you spent 365 days working from home. Your home working costs must be apportioned based on the number of days you have actually worked from home. 

To calculate your e-working or home working costs Revenue has come up with the following simple equation, which it will calculate automatically for you when you apply online:

• multiply your utility bills by the number of days you worked from home
• divide by 365
• multiply by 30% (0.3) for heating and lighting and 30% (0.3) for broadband

You can then claim tax relief at either 20% or 40% on this amount. 

To explain things in more detail let’s look at an example.

Example

Let’s say you spent €2,500 in total on your gas and electricity and €600 on your broadband.

You also spent 150 days working from home.

Here’s an illustration of the amount you can claim for tax relief.
 

This means you will be able to claim tax relief on €382.20 in total for your broadband, electricity and heating costs.

However you are claiming tax relief of €382.20 - not a tax credit. So this means the amount you receive back isn’t €382.20. It depends on your tax band. 

If you pay tax at the higher rate of 40% you'll receive 40% of €382.20 back into your account, or €152.88.

If you pay tax at 20% you’ll get just €76.44. So it’s not a lot.

Be careful with your calculations

It may seem like stating the obvious, but once you exclude weekends (104 days), public holidays (10 days) and statutory annual leave (20 days), the average year has 'just' 232 working days or 233 in a leap year. So in most cases this is the maximum number of allowable days you could claim for (not 365). 

So just be careful with your calculations. 

Do I have to pay tax on equipment from my employer?

Usually if you receive extra perks from your employer (so-called benefits-in-kind) you pay tax on these.

However if your employer gives you equipment that you need to do your work, like a new computer, phone, or printer, and you mainly use it for work, it’s not considered a benefit-in-kind by Revenue, which means you won’t have to pay any tax on it.  

How to claim

Firstly, if you’re going to claim tax relief you’ll need to keep copies of all your bills and expenses as proof of expenditure and you should also get written correspondence from your employer to state that you were working from home and are thereby eligible to claim the relief. 

You don’t need to include any bills or documents when applying for the relief, however you should keep these for a period of six years in case Revenue decides to audit your claim in which case they may come looking for proof of receipts and bills etc. 

You must then complete an income tax return after the end of the tax year by signing into Revenue's myAccount.

So 2022 tax relief can be claimed from January 2023 provided all your tax affairs are in order.

To claim:

• click on ‘Review your tax’ link in PAYE Services
• select the Income Tax return for the relevant tax year
• in ‘Tax Credits & Reliefs’, select ‘Other PAYE Expenses’
• insert the amount of eWorking expense in Amount Claimed.

Your claim will take around a week or two to process and if it's successful your refund will be credited directly into your bank account within three working days or so.

And of course, when claiming for any e-working expenses you should also claim tax relief on any qualifying medical or educational expenses you might have too.

Take a look at our guide on how to apply for a tax refund for more information.

Take a look at our other guides

Did you find this guide useful? If so, make sure you check out our full range of helpful personal finance guides. You might be interested in the following:

• Discover 12 ways to save money while working from home.
• Considering taking a trip abroad? Here’s how you can avoid foreign exchange fees when travelling.
• If you’re fed up with your bank’s pesky current account fees, consider switching! Discover how to switch current accounts here. Alternatively, see how you can reduce your current account fees in this blog.
• When shopping online follow this advice to ensure you’re shopping safely and not getting scammed.

Keep an eye on our personal finance blog and guide pages for more information.

Want to save more money?

Here at bonkers.ie our aim is to help you save money on your everyday expenses.

Our wide range of comparison services mean it’s never been easier to switch and save on a variety of bills. Check out our energy, broadband, banking and personal finance, and insurance pages to learn more. 

See how much you could save by switching today!

Get in touch

Do you have any questions about claiming a tax refund? Let us know and we’d be happy to help. You can contact us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.