Working From Home Tax Relief in Ireland: What You Can Actually Claim

AccountantDirectory.ie

If you work from home for your employer, you may be entitled to tax relief on part of your electricity, heating and broadband bills. This is called Remote Working Relief (sometimes called eWorking relief), and most people who qualify never claim it.

This post explains who qualifies, how the relief is calculated, and how to claim it. Rates and thresholds are set by Revenue and can change, so always check revenue.ie for the current figures before submitting a claim, or talk to an accountant if your situation isn't straightforward.

Do you qualify?

Revenue's definition of "remote working" (eWorking) covers you if you:

  • work from home for substantial periods, either full-time or part of the week
  • log into your employer's systems remotely, send/receive work emails or files from home, or
  • develop products, services or ideas remotely

Casually bringing work home outside your normal hours doesn't count. You also need your employer's agreement that you're working remotely, and you can only claim for the actual days you worked from home, not weekends, annual leave, or public holidays.

Two ways employees are compensated

1. Employer pays a daily allowance. Your employer can pay you up to €3.20 per workday tax-free, without deducting PAYE, PRSI or USC, to cover your added costs. Not all employers do this.

2. You claim the relief yourself. If your employer doesn't pay the allowance (or pays less than the full amount), you can claim relief directly from Revenue on your own tax return.

You can't claim the relief on top of a full €3.20 employer payment for the same days, only on the gap, if any.

What you can claim

Revenue's relief covers 30% of the cost of:

  • Electricity
  • Heating
  • Broadband

It does not cover rent, mortgage repayments, furniture, or general household costs unrelated to these utilities.

How the calculation works

Revenue's formula is:

((A × B) ÷ C) − D, then × 30%

  • A = your eligible electricity, heating and broadband bills for the year
  • B = number of days you worked remotely
  • C = number of days in the year
  • D = any remote working allowance your employer already paid you

Worked example: Say your combined electricity, heating and broadband bills for the year were €2,000, and you worked from home for 150 days, with no employer allowance paid.

(€2,000 × 150) ÷ 365 = €821.92 €821.92 × 30% = €246.58 allowable cost

The actual relief you receive depends on your marginal tax rate. At the higher rate (40%), that's roughly €98.63 back; at the standard rate (20%), roughly €49.32.

If you share a home (and bills) with another remote worker, each of you can claim your own share based on what you actually paid.

How to claim it

  1. Add up your electricity, heating and broadband costs for the year, and work out how many days you worked remotely.
  2. Log in to Revenue's myAccount service.
  3. For the current tax year, Remote Working Relief can be claimed during the year rather than waiting until it ends. For prior years, you'll need to submit an Income Tax Return and have your receipts recorded (Revenue's Receipts Tracker in myAccount is built for this).
  4. Keep your bills and records. Revenue can ask for evidence of what you claimed.

Full detail on documentation and the claim process is on Revenue's eWorking pages.

Worth getting a second opinion if...

  • you're self-employed rather than a PAYE employee (different rules apply)
  • your employer already reimburses part of your costs and you're not sure how much more you can claim
  • you're claiming for multiple prior years at once
  • you split bills with people who aren't also employees claiming their own relief

None of the above is unusual, but it's exactly where people either under-claim or make a mistake Revenue queries later.

Need someone to sort this properly? Find an accountant near you who can check your specific numbers and file it correctly, rather than guessing from a blog post (including this one).

This article is general information based on Revenue.ie guidance at the time of writing. It isn't tax advice for your specific circumstances. Rates, allowances and thresholds are set by Revenue and can change; always confirm current figures at revenue.ie.