# E working information



## Poormans (6 Sep 2016)

Hello. I have been working from home for the past two years and was unaware of the E-Working allowance of €3.20 per day until today. I searched the forum and saw it mentioned but could not find the info I was looking for.

Details here [broken link removed]

There is no office here so it is not a choice. I don't fully understand how it works however. Do I claim it from Revenue or does my company provide it? If its the company can they decline, it seems to be optional for them? Is there a cost to them if they do allow for it or does the €3.20 per day just come from money I would have paid as tax? Finally can this be backdated two years to when I started working at home? Thank you.


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## Joe_90 (6 Sep 2016)

The Revenue allow €3.20 per day to cover the extra cost of being at home.

Your employer can pay this tax free.  There is no obligation on them to do so.


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## FCBC12 (16 Mar 2020)

Hi. Just rejuvenating this thread. Is this relevant to the current issue faced by many employees having to work from home due to Covid19? €3.20 per day may not seem a lot, but could add up if employees are asked to work from home for a number of weeks.


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## Hooverfish (17 Mar 2020)

I have claimed this successfully in the past (2016) but you do get asked a lot of questions and it is pro rata - if you end up working at home for 3 months let's say 60 days you have to prove it, and you will then only get the proportion of days in the year you worked at home as opposed to in the office. You need evidence that your job is asking you to work at home. If your company is paying for eg broadband they will ask about that too. My guess is if a lot of people claim it this year Revenue will have to streamline the claims process.


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## torblednam (17 Mar 2020)

Hooverfish said:


> I have claimed this successfully in the past (2016) but you do get asked a lot of questions and it is pro rata - if you end up working at home for 3 months let's say 60 days you have to prove it, and you will then only get the proportion of days in the year you worked at home as opposed to in the office. You need evidence that your job is asking you to work at home. If your company is paying for eg broadband they will ask about that too. My guess is if a lot of people claim it this year Revenue will have to streamline the claims process.



Hi, can you please clarify exactly what you’re saying you claimed from Revenue?

€3.20 per day worked at home, or what?


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## Gordon Gekko (18 Mar 2020)

Joe_90 said:


> The Revenue allow €3.20 per day to cover the extra cost of being at home.
> 
> Your employer can pay this tax free.  There is no obligation on them to do so.



I have never heard of this, but I’m sure there’s a baseball bat round the head waiting for the first employee who looks for it as a “right” given the hardship being suffered by employers.


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## Sunny (18 Mar 2020)

I have claimed this is in the past when I had formal remote working arrangement. Usually I would always suggest that everyone claims what they are owed but in this case, the process is very cumbersome and time consuming for revenue and you as well. If you can, maybe we should just look to ignore it just once. The amount you are due is small and these are extra-ordinary times. Revenue will need all staff looking after businesses and people out of work. Maybe we should just accept that we are fortunate to be working from home.


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## Hooverfish (19 Mar 2020)

torblednam said:


> Hi, can you please clarify exactly what you’re saying you claimed from Revenue?
> 
> €3.20 per day worked at home, or what?


If your employer won't pay the 3.20 directly but they are asking you to work from home, if you can prove your homeworking expenses (eg electricity bills/proportion of and why) Revenue will let you claim it that way. My employer paid broadband at a flat monthly rate to all homeworkers but nothing else. Which made it extra complex. But working from home is great.


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## torblednam (20 Mar 2020)

Hooverfish said:


> If your employer won't pay the 3.20 directly but they are asking you to work from home, if you can prove your homeworking expenses (eg electricity bills/proportion of and why) Revenue will let you claim it that way. My employer paid broadband at a flat monthly rate to all homeworkers but nothing else. Which made it extra complex. But working from home is great.



Thanks for clarifying - I just wanted it to be explicitly clear that people CANNOT claim the €3.20 as an expense in employment from Revenue. If the broadband is paid for, surely the remaining expense to be claimed is negligible. The proportion of a household’s electricity bill that could be apportioned to working at home must be in the single digits %, surely - 40hrs use of a 40watt light bulb per week, and the power used to run your computer..? Am I missing something?

I’d have thought, if anything, working from home actually saves people money. No commuting cost, no impulse purchases of overpriced coffee / bar of chocolate etc, lunch at home, (only showering once or twice during the week!)...


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## Gordon Gekko (20 Mar 2020)

If you have a dedicated workspace within your home, floor area might be an easy way to work it out.


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## RedOnion (20 Mar 2020)

Both the Irish Times & Independent have run articles on the topic today.
A few years ago, I had friends who claimed tax relief on their broadband for working from home. It's more difficult now to justify that you only need broadband for working, or that you need better broadband.

Personally, I don't bother. I'm happy to have the flexibility to work from home when it suits, and my employer provides me with a mobile phone. It'd be difficult to work out the additional costs I incur because of working from home.











						People remote working can claim tax relief for lighting, heat and broadband
					

Employers can pay staff tax free to cover cost of home-working




					www.irishtimes.com


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## torblednam (20 Mar 2020)

The taxback.com lady says:
_She said e-workers should calculate their total costs and the amount of the time (as a percentage) they spend working from home. They can then claim the tax break on this percentage of the cost._

This is manifestly incorrect / inappropriate. Most people don’t live alone, so that approach ignores this very relevant fact.

Secondly, the majority of electricity usage in a household will be on devices that have no relevance to e-working. From an electricity POV you only have lighting and running of work devices, a couple of units of electricity a day, max.

Heating wise, if you don’t live alone, you’re gonna have the heating on anyway at the moment - so the incremental cost from e-working is nil or negligible (a fraction of a fraction).

Broadband wise, if you already have a BB service, I don’t see how you can argue that some portion of the cost is wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred in the performance of the duties of employment.


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## Gordon Gekko (20 Mar 2020)

It’s about what is reasonable. Floor area, number of people, and time are all relevant.


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## torblednam (20 Mar 2020)

Gordon Gekko said:


> It’s about what is reasonable. Floor area, number of people, and time are all relevant.



Is it reasonable to recognise reality and apply common sense?


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## Gordon Gekko (20 Mar 2020)

torblednam said:


> Is it reasonable to recognise reality and apply common sense?



Absolutely.


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## Madra (20 Mar 2020)

torblednam said:


> This is manifestly incorrect / inappropriate. Most people don’t live alone, so that approach ignores this very relevant fact.
> 
> Secondly, the majority of electricity usage in a household will be on devices that have no relevance to e-working. From an electricity POV you only have lighting and running of work devices, a couple of units of electricity a day, max.
> 
> ...


I live alone. I renewed BB last week (Cancelled at Christmas) purely because of this outbreak. I an out of pocket by toilet roll quite a bit and this is a valuable commodity now apparently. I also have showers in work (towels are supplied). I don't have a company phone. My gym is closed. I don't see the government making any special provisions for me !


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## Sunny (20 Mar 2020)

Madra said:


> I live alone. I renewed BB last week (Cancelled at Christmas) purely because of this outbreak. I an out of pocket by toilet roll quite a bit and this is a valuable commodity now apparently. I also have showers in work (towels are supplied). I don't have a company phone. My gym is closed. I don't see the government making any special provisions for me !



I believe there is a special cabinet meeting later to discuss cases like you. In every global pandemic, there are always silent victims that the world forgets about....


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## torblednam (20 Mar 2020)

Madra said:


> I live alone. I renewed BB last week (Cancelled at Christmas) purely because of this outbreak. I an out of pocket by toilet roll quite a bit and this is a valuable commodity now apparently. I also have showers in work (towels are supplied). I don't have a company phone. My gym is closed. I don't see the government making any special provisions for me !



That does raise an interesting question, about whether, when this is all over, BIK should be charged by employers providing facilities like toilet roll and showers & towels, to employees..!


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## huskerdu (20 Mar 2020)

Here’s the details of what can be claimed 






						Revenue eBrief No. 045/20
					

e-Working and Tax




					revenue.ie


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## odyssey06 (20 Mar 2020)

When would you put in this claim, January 2021 for the days worked from home in 2020?


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## relax carry on (21 Mar 2020)

odyssey06 said:


> When would you put in this claim, January 2021 for the days worked from home in 2020?


 Yes. It's not claimed in year. It's claimed via the appropriate years tax return. Either a form 12 or form 11 depending on what's appropriate to you.


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## Hooverfish (22 Mar 2020)

torblednam said:


> Thanks for clarifying - I just wanted it to be explicitly clear that people CANNOT claim the €3.20 as an expense in employment from Revenue. If the broadband is paid for, surely the remaining expense to be claimed is negligible. The proportion of a household’s electricity bill that could be apportioned to working at home must be in the single digits %, surely - 40hrs use of a 40watt light bulb per week, and the power used to run your computer..? Am I missing something?
> 
> I’d have thought, if anything, working from home actually saves people money. No commuting cost, no impulse purchases of overpriced coffee / bar of chocolate etc, lunch at home, (only showering once or twice during the week!)...


Well, I've done it, (claimed homeworking expenses eg electricity and heating) but it's not 3.20 a day if your employer is already paying you for the broadband anyway. But if you are working fulltime from home and are used to keeping all your bills then it is worth claiming, but only just. 3.20 is the max you can get an exemption for if the employer IS reimbursing you.


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## messyleo (22 Mar 2020)

Hooverfish said:


> Well, I've done it, (claimed homeworking expenses eg electricity and heating) but it's not 3.20 a day if your employer is already paying you for the broadband anyway. But if you are working fulltime from home and are used to keeping all your bills then it is worth claiming, but only just. 3.20 is the max you can get an exemption for if the employer IS reimbursing you.



I actually had to take out a new broadband subscription last week just so I can use it for working (I was using mobile data up until that but it wouldn't cut it for video calls etc.). I have proof that I just started teh contract last week when I was asked to work from home - would this be the kind of thing I could claim back for tax? I am not bother too much about the light and heat etc.


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