Claiming home office expenses is available if you carry on a business or use your home for undertaking employment duties.

As part of employment

Generally, where an employee uses an area of their home for employment duties, the additional running expenses (primarily the additional gas and electricity costs) of the home office are deductible. You may also be able to claim a portion of your contents insurance, cleaning costs and the cost of repairs to furniture and fittings, amongst other things.

There are no Capital Gains Tax implications for this situation.

A place of business

Where part of your home is used solely for income producing activities and “has the character of a place of business”, e.g. a doctor’s surgery, you may also be able to claim part of your occupancy expenses as well as running expenses. This includes such expenses as mortgage interest, rent and building insurance.

However, Capital Gains Tax may be applicable.

Phone and internet usage

Some work related phone and internet costs may be claimed if the expenses are either:

• clearly identified in a phone account or
• a time diary maintained to show a reasonable estimate of use.