Every tax break you could be claiming if you are still working from home

September 1, 2022
|In Taxation, VAT
|By Angela O'Leary

Since Ireland removed practically every public health restriction in March of this year, millions of people have begun to shift back towards the office or a hybrid model of working.

Some choose to commute into offices or hubs for their full working week, others opt to work from home and cut costs, while many are preferring to get a mixture of the two with a split week.

The Government and employers have provided some tax breaks to those who are staying in their home base to get their work done

However, the cost of living crisis is causing bills to skyrocket, leading many to call for extra help in Budget 2023 next month.

At the moment, there are a few benefits you can claim tax-wise if you are working from home.

What is working from home tax relief?

Since the pandemic, more people than ever qualify for the working-from-home tax relief – which can get you 30% off your electricity, heating and internet bills in 2022.

You qualify if you work from home on a part-time or full-time basis but you can only claim for the days that you actually work from home.

How much tax could you get back?

If your household bills for heating, electricity and broadband come to €2,000 in 2022 and you work at home full-time for 220 days of the year, you could claim 30% tax relief on €1,205 of your bill.

You can also claim

  • 10% of the cost of electricity and heat incurred (based on the number of days worked at home over the year)
  • 30% of the cost of broadband, based on the number of days worked at home over the year.

You can only claim for the days you worked from home as a remote worker, you cannot include:

  • weekends or public holidays you did not have to work on
  • days you took as annual leave
  • days that you brought work home outside of normal working hours.

How to calculate your working from home costs

To calculate your electricity and heat remote working costs:

  • multiply your allowable utility bills by the number of remote working days
  • divided by 365 (when calculating relief for 2020 divide by 366)
  • multiply by 10% (0.1).

To calculate your broadband remote working cost:

  • multiply your bill by the number of remote working days
  • divided by 365 (when calculating relief for 2020 divide by 366)
  • multiply by 30% (0.3).

How to get your tax back

According to the Revenue: ”In order to claim additional tax credits, or declare additional income for a previous year, you must complete an Income Tax Return.”

Payslip with calculator (Image: Getty)

You can do this by following these steps:

  • sign in to myAccount and complete or skip the Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
  • click the ‘Review your tax 2018 -2021’ link in PAYE Services
  • select ‘Submit your Income Tax Return’ for the appropriate year.