Can You Claim Broadband as a Working From Home Expense? The 2026 Rules

Whether you can claim your broadband depends entirely on which of three people you are, and one of the three just had the rules changed underneath them. Employees: the relief is gone from 6 April 2026, and HMRC never allowed home broadband within it anyway. Self-employed: the business share of your internet is claimable, and the flat-rate scheme does not swallow it. Limited company: the company can provide the connection, within conditions HMRC sets out precisely. This guide quotes every rule from GOV.UK and HMRC's own manuals, covers the four past years employees can still claim, tells the full story of the relief from £4 a week to abolition, and ends with the one broadband saving nobody needs HMRC's permission for.

Can you claim broadband for working from home? The three-lane answer

Direct answer: no if you are an employee, the business proportion if you are self-employed, and yes with conditions through a limited company.

Everything below unpacks those four rows, in HMRC's own words. One theme runs through all of them: the additional-cost test. Tax relief and tax-free reimbursement attach to costs that exist because of the work. A broadband bill that would be identical if you never worked a day from home is, in HMRC's eyes, simply your broadband bill. And the question matters to more households than ever: the Office for National Statistics found that "More than a quarter (28%) of working adults in Great Britain hybrid worked between January and March 2025", the most recent figure in its series.

The change: employee relief abolished from 6 April 2026

Direct answer: the deduction employees used to claim for unreimbursed homeworking costs no longer exists for the current tax year onwards.

The measure was announced at the Budget on 26 November 2025. HMRC's tax information and impact note describes it precisely: "This measure removes the process in which employees can claim a deduction from Income Tax from HMRC if they have incurred additional household costs when being required to work from home", taking effect "from 6 April 2026", and applying "only to those employees who have not had these costs reimbursed by their employer". The Employment Income Manual, updated 15 July 2026, confirms the permanence: "From 6 April 2026 onwards, a deduction from earnings is no longer permitted for an employee's additional household expenses" (EIM32759).

The legal mechanics are worth one precise paragraph, because they are widely muddled. EIM32759 states: "Legislation introduced at section 360B ITEPA 2003 prevents a deduction under section 336 ITEPA 2003 for additional household expenses incurred in the performance of an employee's duties." The same page ring-fences what survives: "While employees can no longer claim a deduction under section 336 ITEPA 2003 for household expenses incurred while working from home, this does not affect travel expenses under section 337 ITEPA 2003." A separate Budget measure taking effect the same day inserts a new section 316ZA, which its impact note describes as introducing "new legislative exemptions for the reimbursement of accommodation, supplies or services used in performing employment duties". That is an employer reimbursement exemption, not a revival of the employee claim, and the two are regularly confused.

HMRC's own framing of why: "This measure aims to address concerns around non-compliance and to ensure fairness across the tax system." And its own sizing of who: "This measure will impact an estimated 300,000 individuals by removing the tax relief on home working expenses which will result in a tax increase of £62 for basic rate taxpayers and £124 for higher rate taxpayers." The raw arithmetic behind those figures is £6 a week times 52 weeks at 20% or 40%, which gives £62.40 and £124.80; the £62 and £124 are HMRC's rounding, and we show both so nothing on this page quietly disagrees with its source. The impact note also publishes what the Exchequer gains: nil in 2025 to 2026, £10 million in 2026 to 2027, £30 million in 2027 to 2028, then £25 million in each of the three years to 2030 to 2031. £115 million over the period, our arithmetic from HMRC's published figures.

Two things the abolition did not touch, in the impact note's words: "This measure will not impact the existing ability for employers that reimburse employees for costs relating to homeworking where eligible without deducting Income Tax and National Insurance contributions." Employer payments survive. So do self-employed expenses, which were never part of this relief.

The rise and fall of the £6 a week relief

Direct answer: a £4 a week allowance became a £6 pandemic lifeline claimed by hundreds of thousands, then a compliance problem, then a Budget saving. Every entry below is from GOV.UK or HMRC's manuals.

The compliance chapter explains the ending. HMRC's October 2024 briefing is unusually candid: "Recently, we have identified a growing tax risk driven by ineligible claims for employment expenses." Its 13 October 2020 portal announcement had already noted that "In 2018 to 2019, more than 500,000 customers (66% of total expense claims) applied for the tax relief using an agent", the refund-agent pipeline that later drew so much scrutiny. Evidence requirements arrived in October 2024, and thirteen months later the Budget ended the relief altogether.

Employees: what you can still do

Direct answer: claim the past, if you qualified; broadband was excluded even then; and the deadline clock runs year by year.

GOV.UK's notice pairs the closure with the opening: "You can still claim for the 4 previous tax years." Eligibility for those years was never generous, and it is worth quoting exactly, because the pandemic years created a folk memory that everyone could claim. You can claim only if you HAD to work from home, for example because "your job requires you to live far away from your office" or "your employer does not have an office". You cannot claim "if you choose to work from home", including where "your employment contract lets you work from home some or all of the time" or "your employer has an office, but you cannot go there sometimes because it's full". HMRC's evidence briefing compresses the whole test into one sentence: "If it's the claimant's choice to work from home, they can't claim this expense." The wide pandemic-era eligibility applied to 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022 only, which have now aged out of the four-year window.

Even for qualifying years, broadband stays out. The claimable list is "things to do with your work, such as: business phone calls" and "gas and electricity for your work area", and the exclusion is explicit: "You cannot claim for things that you use for both private and business use, such as rent or broadband access." HMRC's manual adds the reasoning for anyone who already had a connection: "there is no additional expense" (EIM01475).

If you did have to work from home in a still-open year, here are the deadlines, our own working from GOV.UK's rule that a claim must be "within 4 years from the end of the tax year you are claiming for".

The mechanics: claim through HMRC's online employment expenses service or by post on form P87, unless you file Self Assessment, in which case "you must claim through your tax return instead". HMRC's briefing puts the PAYE route at claims "up to £2,500", and its worked example is a useful reality check on scale: "if they spent £60 and pay tax at a rate of 20%, the tax relief they can claim is £12". Since the 2022 to 2023 year, "You need to send evidence that you must work from home, such as a copy of your employment contract". The postal warning is equally plain: "We'll reject postal claims that do not use this form." Relief lands as a tax code adjustment or a refund.

The employer route that survives

Direct answer: your employer can pay £6 a week tax-free with no receipts, and can pay for a new broadband connection you genuinely need for homeworking.

HMRC's guidance to employers (EIM01476, updated 4 June 2026): "From 6 April 2020 you can agree to a payment of £6 per week or £26 per month for monthly paid employees to an employee working regularly at home without the employer having to justify the amount paid. If the £6 guideline rate is paid the employee does not have to keep any records to demonstrate the additional expenditure." Larger amounts are possible "where the employer provides evidence to justify them". GOV.UK's current employer table says the same thing in tabular form, listing the weekly limit for "2020 to 2021 onwards" as "£6.00 (or £26 a month for employees paid monthly)".

On broadband itself, the employer rule threads the additional-cost needle. If you already pay for home broadband, reimbursement is not tax-free, because "there is no additional expense". But, in EIM01475's words: "If the employee does not already pay for a broadband internet connection at home, and needs one in order to work from home under homeworking arrangements, the broadband fee is an additional household expense that the employer can reimburse, tax free, under Section 316A." GOV.UK's employer guide frames it as a checklist: "You do not have to report or pay tax if you reimburse an employee's broadband fee if all of the following apply", the conditions being "a broadband connection was not already available", "they need it to work from home", and "it is mainly used for business purposes".

If you are negotiating a homeworking arrangement, this section is your script: the £6 a week payment and, where it genuinely applies, the connection reimbursement are established, documented, tax-free routes your employer can say yes to.

Self-employed: how broadband is actually claimed

Direct answer: the business proportion of the real bill, on a reasonable basis, and the flat-rate scheme does not cover it, so flat-rate users claim it on top.

GOV.UK's expenses guidance for the self-employed lists, among home working costs, "a proportion of your costs for things like" heating, electricity, Council Tax, mortgage interest or rent, and "internet and telephone use". Apportionment is by any reasonable method; GOV.UK's own worked example is usage-based: "Your mobile phone bills for the year total £200. Of this, you spend £130 on personal calls and £70 on business calls. You can claim for £70 of business expenses."

Now the rule that separates this page from half its competitors. Sole traders using simplified expenses claim working-from-home costs at a flat rate by hours worked at home each month: £10 for 25 to 50 hours, £18 for 51 to 100, £26 for 101 or more, available "if you work for 25 hours or more a month from home". And then, GOV.UK, verbatim: "The flat rate does not include telephone or internet expenses. You can claim the business proportion of these bills by working out the actual costs." The flat rate replaces the fiddly utility apportionments; broadband is claimed separately, on the real numbers, either way. A freelancer on the £10 rate with a £360 annual broadband bill used, say, one third for business does not choose between the two claims; both apply, and the written basis for the one-third is what protects it.

One caveat carried from GOV.UK: "You cannot claim expenses if you use your £1,000 tax-free 'trading allowance'." If your self-employment is small, do that comparison first.

Limited company directors: the company connection

Direct answer: a connection the company provides at your home for work is exempt from benefit-in-kind tax if private use is not significant. Reimbursing the broadband you already had personally is not.

HMRC's manual (EIM21617, updated 15 July 2026) sets out the lanes. Where the company provides the service: "Section 316... exempts from tax assets or services provided by an employer in the employee's home solely for work purposes, as long as any private use is not significant." HMRC even addresses the modern flat-rate package problem: where there is "no separate billing or record of access calls, and no breakdown is possible between work and private calls, we accept that where private use is not significant (and private use does not affect the cost of the package) the costs of connection are exempt from tax under Section 316."

Where you are the subscriber and the company reimburses you, the additional-cost test returns: "Reasonable additional costs would include a broadband subscription if an employee who had not previously subscribed for broadband needed to do so in order to work from home", but "Payments to an employee who was already subscribing for broadband, and for whom the cost was therefore not 'additional' will not qualify for exemption under Section 316A." From the same 6 April 2026 date, a separate Budget measure inserts a new section 316ZA, described in its impact note as introducing "new legislative exemptions for the reimbursement of accommodation, supplies or services used in performing employment duties". That is a reimbursement exemption for employers, not a revival of the abolished employee claim, and as at 8 August 2026 HMRC had not yet published a dedicated manual page for it, so EIM21617 remains the working guidance.

The practical shape most accountants reach for follows directly: make the company the customer for a connection that exists for the business. If the business genuinely needs its own line, that is also the moment to price one properly: our business broadband hub and the guide to home versus business broadband for small companies cover when a business package earns its keep, and business broadband for home offices is the specific comparison. For anything beyond the plain rules quoted here, an accountant is the right next call; this page is information, not tax advice.

The broadband saving that needs nobody's permission

Direct answer: if the taxman will not fund your broadband, the market will still discount it, and the out-of-contract premium is bigger than the abolished relief.

Here is the consoling arithmetic for the 300,000. The abolished relief was worth £62 a year at the basic rate, on HMRC's own figures. Ofcom's February 2026 research found "customers who are in contract spend between £7 and £9 a month less than out-of-contract customers", which is £84 to £108 a year, our arithmetic, and 28% of broadband customers are out of contract. For a great many home workers, more than the lost relief is sitting in the gap between their drifted tariff and the market price, claimable by anyone, no eligibility rules, no P87, no evidence beyond thirty seconds with a postcode.

While you are at it, home workers have particular reasons to buy well: our guides to broadband speed for working from home and avoiding downtime when you work from home cover speed and resilience, and broadband deals for existing customers covers the renegotiation route if you would rather not move.

Frequently asked questions

Can I claim broadband as a working from home expense?

If you are an employee, no. Working from home tax relief was abolished from 6 April 2026, and even before that HMRC's guidance said you could not claim for things used for both private and business purposes, giving rent or broadband access as its examples. If you are self-employed, you can claim the business proportion of your internet costs. If you run a limited company, the company can provide a connection for work with no taxable benefit if private use is not significant.

Did working from home tax relief end in 2026?

Yes, for employees. GOV.UK states that from the tax year 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027 you will not be able to claim tax relief for working from home, and HMRC's Employment Income Manual states that from 6 April 2026 onwards a deduction from earnings is no longer permitted for an employee's additional household expenses. The measure was announced at the Budget on 26 November 2025 and HMRC estimates it affects 300,000 individuals. Self-employed expense rules and employer reimbursements are unchanged.

Can I still claim working from home relief for previous years?

Yes. GOV.UK confirms you can still claim for the 4 previous tax years, provided you were eligible, which means you had to work from home rather than chose to. A claim must be made within 4 years of the end of the tax year it relates to, so the 2022 to 2023 year remains claimable until 5 April 2027. You must send evidence that you had to work from home, such as a copy of your employment contract.

How much was working from home tax relief worth?

The flat rate was £6 a week from 6 April 2020, and £4 a week before that, £18 a month for monthly paid employees, for the tax years 2011 to 2012 through 2019 to 2020. HMRC's own example puts the value at £1.20 per week for a 20% taxpayer, and its impact note describes the abolition as a tax increase of £62 for basic rate taxpayers and £124 for higher rate taxpayers. The full-year arithmetic is £6 times 52 at your tax rate, £62.40 at 20% and £124.80 at 40%, which HMRC rounds to £62 and £124.

Can my employer pay for my home broadband tax-free?

In one specific situation. HMRC's rule is that if you do not already pay for a broadband connection at home and need one in order to work from home under homeworking arrangements, the fee is an additional household expense the employer can reimburse tax-free. GOV.UK's employer guidance states you do not have to report or pay tax if you reimburse an employee's broadband fee if all of the following apply: a broadband connection was not already available, they need it to work from home, and it is mainly used for business purposes. If you already had broadband, reimbursement of it is not tax-free.

Can my employer still pay the £6 a week homeworking allowance?

Yes. The employer payment route is untouched by the 2026 change: HMRC guidance allows employers to pay £6 per week, or £26 a month for monthly paid employees, to an employee working regularly at home without justifying the amount, and with no records needed from the employee at that level. GOV.UK's current employer table lists the weekly limit for 2020 to 2021 onwards as £6.00, or £26 a month for employees paid monthly. HMRC's impact note confirms the measure does not affect employers reimbursing eligible homeworking costs.

Is broadband tax deductible if I am self-employed?

The business proportion is. GOV.UK lists internet and telephone use among the home working costs you may claim a proportion of, worked out on a reasonable basis such as usage. Its own example: a £200 annual phone bill of which £70 relates to business calls means £70 of allowable expenses. Keep the basis of your apportionment written down in case HMRC asks.

Does the self-employed flat rate cover broadband?

No, and this is the most missed rule in the subject. GOV.UK's simplified expenses guidance says the flat rate does not include telephone or internet expenses, and that you can claim the business proportion of these bills by working out the actual costs. So a sole trader using the £10, £18 or £26 monthly flat rate for working from home claims broadband separately on top, on the business share of the real bill.

Can I put broadband through my limited company?

Yes, with conditions. HMRC's manual says assets or services provided by an employer in the employee's home solely for work purposes are exempt from tax as long as any private use is not significant, and it accepts package deals with no usage breakdown on that basis where private use does not affect the cost. The clean route is the company as the subscriber or provider of the connection. Reimbursing a broadband subscription you already had personally does not qualify.

What if I already had broadband before working from home?

Then HMRC's position is blunt: if an employee who begins to work from home is already paying for a broadband internet connection, there is no additional expense, so there is nothing to reimburse tax-free and nothing to claim. The additional-cost test sits underneath every rule on this page, and an unchanged household bill fails it.

How do I claim tax relief for a previous year?

Through HMRC's online employment expenses service or by post on form P87, unless you complete Self Assessment, in which case you must claim through your tax return. HMRC's briefing puts the PAYE route at claims up to £2,500. Since 2022 to 2023 claims require evidence you had to work from home, such as your employment contract, and HMRC states it will reject postal claims that do not use the form. Relief for past years arrives as a tax code adjustment or a refund.

Who is affected by the 2026 abolition of homeworking relief?

Employees who were claiming the deduction themselves for unreimbursed homeworking costs; HMRC's impact note estimates 300,000 individuals and frames the measure as addressing non-compliance concerns and ensuring fairness. It changes nothing for the self-employed, nothing for employer reimbursements, and nothing about the fact that home broadband was already outside the employee relief.

How many people claimed working from home tax relief?

HMRC's online portal received 54,800 claims in its first 11 days, between 1 and 11 October 2020. By 27 June 2021 the number of claims made for the 2021 to 2022 tax year was 794,819, a figure HMRC noted refers to online portal claims only. When the relief was abolished from 6 April 2026, HMRC's impact note estimated 300,000 individuals were affected.

How much does the government raise by ending the relief?

HMRC's tax information and impact note publishes the Exchequer figures: nil in 2025 to 2026, then £10 million in 2026 to 2027, £30 million in 2027 to 2028, and £25 million in each of the three years to 2030 to 2031. Adding those published figures gives £115 million over five years, which is our own arithmetic, not HMRC's.

Is the position different for Scottish taxpayers?

The abolition applies to the relief itself, but income tax rates in Scotland differ from the rest of the UK, so the value of a still-open past-year claim differs too. The Scottish Government's published rates for 2026 to 2027 include a 19% starter rate, a 20% basic rate and a 21% intermediate rate, alongside 42%, 45% and 48% bands. HMRC's £62 and £124 figures describe basic and higher rate taxpayers at UK level; a Scottish taxpayer's past-year claim is worth the rates that applied to them in the year being claimed. The claim routes and deadlines are the same.

Which law ended working from home tax relief?

HMRC's manual states that legislation introduced at section 360B ITEPA 2003 prevents a deduction under section 336 ITEPA 2003 for additional household expenses incurred in the performance of an employee's duties, and confirms this does not affect travel expenses under section 337. A separate measure taking effect the same day, 6 April 2026, inserts a new section 316ZA exempting employer reimbursement of accommodation, supplies or services used in performing employment duties. As at 8 August 2026 HMRC had not published a dedicated manual page for section 316ZA.

References

• GOV.UK. (n.d.). Claim tax relief for your job expenses: working at home. https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/working-at-home
• GOV.UK. (2026, June 23, last updated). Claim tax relief for your job expenses by post. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/send-an-income-tax-relief-claim-for-job-expenses-by-post-or-phone
• GOV.UK. (2026, April 23, last updated). Expenses and benefits: homeworking. https://www.gov.uk/expenses-and-benefits-homeworking/homeworking-expenses-and-benefits-that-are-exempt-from-tax
• GOV.UK. (2024, November 8, last updated). Expenses if you're self-employed. https://www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed
• GOV.UK. (n.d.). Simplified expenses if you're self-employed: working from home. https://www.gov.uk/simpler-income-tax-simplified-expenses/working-from-home
• HM Revenue and Customs. (2020, October 13). 54,800 customers claim tax relief for working from home. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/54800-customers-claim-tax-relief-for-working-from-home
• HM Revenue and Customs. (2021, June 29). Almost 800,000 tax relief claims for working from home. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/almost-800000-tax-relief-claims-for-working-from-home
• HM Revenue and Customs. (2024, October 7; updated 2024, December 20). Evidence required to claim PAYE (P87) employment expenses. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-issue-briefing-evidence-required-to-claim-paye-p87-employment-expenses/evidence-required-to-claim-paye-p87-employment-expenses
• HM Revenue and Customs. (2025, November 26). Removal of tax relief on non-reimbursed homeworking expenses. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-removal-of-the-tax-relief-for-additional-homeworking-expenses/removal-of-tax-relief-on-non-reimbursed-homeworking-expenses
• HM Revenue and Customs. (2025, November 26; updated 2025, November 28). Expanding workplace benefits relief. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-expansion-of-workplace-benefits-relief/expanding-workplace-benefits-relief
• HM Revenue and Customs. (2026, July 15, last updated). EIM01475: Employment income: household expenses: broadband internet charges. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim01475
• HM Revenue and Customs. (2026, June 4, last updated). EIM01476: Employment income: household expenses: how much can be reimbursed. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim01476
• HM Revenue and Customs. (2026, July 15, last updated). EIM21617: Internet access in the employee's home. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim21617
• HM Revenue and Customs. (2026, July 15, last updated). EIM32759: Other expenses: home: working from home: treatment from 6 April 2026 onwards. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim32759
• HM Revenue and Customs. (2026, June 4, last updated). EIM32815: Other expenses: home: household expenses: expenses that are deductible: treatment prior to 6 April 2026. GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim32815
• Office for National Statistics. (2025, June 11). Who has access to hybrid work in Great Britain? https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/whohasaccesstohybridworkingreatbritain/2025-06-11
• Ofcom. (2026, February 26). New Ofcom research reveals how to cut phone and internet bills. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-and-broadband/bills-and-charges/new-ofcom-research-reveals-how-to-cut-phone-and-internet-bills
• Scottish Government. (2026, January 14, last updated). Scottish Income Tax: rates and bands, 2026 to 2027. https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-income-tax-rates-and-bands/pages/2026-to-2027/

Written by Adrian James, Broadband Editor at BroadbandSwitch.uk (LinkedIn). Reviewed by Dr Alex J. Martin-Smith (LinkedIn). Published 9 August 2026, rules checked against GOV.UK and HMRC manuals 8 August 2026 and the abolition notice re-confirmed on 9 August 2026. Tax rules change and individual circumstances differ. This guide is information, not tax advice; for decisions about your own tax, speak to an accountant or HMRC.