What is Remote Working Relief and can I claim it?
Remote Working Relief lets a PAYE employee claim tax back on 30% of their electricity, heating and broadband costs for the days they actually worked from home. It was previously called e-working relief (and plenty of people still call it working from home tax relief), but the name on Revenue's own pages is Remote Working Relief, and that is the wording you will see inside myAccount.
The qualifying test is narrower than most people assume. Revenue looks for a genuine arrangement with your employer to work at home for substantial periods, where you are carrying out substantive duties: logging into work systems, dealing with clients, writing reports, attending meetings. A written policy, a hybrid rota or even an email from your manager will do. What does not count is bringing work home in the evening, answering a few emails on a Sunday, or working from the kitchen table on a random Friday because the plumber is calling. That is work done at home, not remote working.
Who can claim? Full-time remote employees, part-time employees and hybrid workers all qualify, and so do people whose remote working only covered part of the year. If you changed employer in June, you simply count the qualifying days under each employment and add them together. If you started a hybrid arrangement in September, you claim from September.
Where it does not apply is worth being just as clear about. Self-employed people do not use this relief at all. Home office costs for a sole trader go through the normal business expense rules on the annual return, which is a different calculation with different risks attached. You also cannot claim for costs your employer has already reimbursed in full, and informal home working with no arrangement behind it falls outside the relief entirely.
Key facts at a glance
| Point | What applies |
|---|---|
| What you can claim | 30% of electricity, heating and broadband costs, apportioned to remote working days |
| Rate of relief | Given at your highest rate of income tax, usually 20% or 40% |
| Employer alternative | Up to €3.20 per remote working day, paid tax free by your employer |
| Days that count | Days actually worked at home, excluding weekends, public holidays and annual leave |
| Time limit | Four years. Claims for 2022 must be submitted by 31 December 2026 |
| Records | Keep bills and proof of payment; Revenue's Receipts Tracker can hold them |
Which electricity, heating and broadband costs can I claim?
Three categories qualify, and only three. Revenue allows 30% of the cost of electricity, heating and broadband, and that 30% is applied after you have apportioned the bills to your remote working days and before your tax rate is applied. Nothing else goes into the pot: not rent, not your mortgage, not home insurance, not the mobile phone, and not the standing desk or second monitor you bought yourself. Capital items and personal costs are outside the relief.
- Electricity. Your metered domestic supply, as billed to you. Laptops, lighting, the kettle that never stops, it is all in the same bill and Revenue does not ask you to separate it out.
- Heating. Gas, oil, electric heating or solid fuel, as long as it is a domestic heating cost you actually paid and can evidence. An oil delivery invoice counts just as well as a gas bill.
- Broadband. Your home internet connection. This one qualified even in the years when electricity and heating were treated less generously.
Bundles are where people get stuck. If you pay one price for broadband, television and a landline, you cannot claim 30% of the whole bundle, because the TV element is entertainment. Check the provider's breakdown first: most itemise the broadband component somewhere on the bill or in your online account. If the bill genuinely gives no split, make a reasonable and consistent apportionment, write down how you arrived at it, and keep that note with the bill. Revenue's concern is that the figure is honest and supportable, not that it is calculated to the cent.
Shared homes and joint bills follow one rule: you claim your share, and only your share. If you and your partner split the electricity bill down the middle, each of you works from your own half. Four housemates paying equally means a quarter each. Two people cannot both claim the same euro of expenditure, and Revenue's guidance is explicit that where bills are shared, each person claims their own portion. Couples who are jointly assessed still calculate separately on their own days before the figures land on the one return.
One warning for anyone going back over old years. The 30% rate across all three categories applies from 2022 onwards. For 2020 and 2021, electricity and heating were relieved at 10% while broadband was relieved at 30%, so a backdated claim has to use the rules for that specific year rather than today's percentage.
How do I apportion my bills and calculate the relief?
Revenue sets the calculation out as a formula, and it is worth writing down before you touch myAccount:
((A × B) ÷ C) − D, then × 30%
- A = your allowable bills for the year (electricity + heating + broadband, your share only)
- B = the number of days you worked remotely
- C = 365 (or 366 in a leap year)
- D = any remote working allowance your employer already paid you
A remote working day is a day you actually worked, at home, under your arrangement. Weekends, public holidays, annual leave, sick days and days spent in the office are all out, and so are evenings when you logged back on after a day at your desk in town. For a hybrid worker the count is usually straightforward: two days a week over roughly 46 working weeks lands somewhere near 90 days, three days a week nearer 135. Do not estimate it if you can count it. A rota, an Outlook calendar or a line in a spreadsheet is enough.
Here is the part that trips up almost everyone: 30% is not your refund. The 30% figure gives you an amount that is deducted from your taxable income, and what you get back is tax at your own rate on that amount. If you pay tax at the standard 20% rate, a €266 allowable figure is worth about €53. At the higher 40% rate it is worth about €107. Useful, and stackable with your other credits, but not the windfall the headline percentage suggests. Your actual benefit also depends on having paid enough tax in the year for the relief to bite.
Part-year situations follow the same logic. If you moved house in August, calculate each address separately on the bills you paid there and the days you worked there, then add the two allowable figures together. Changed employer mid-year? Combine the qualifying days, but keep any allowance from each employer against the right period. And if someone else in the household paid half the bills, halve A before you start.
How does the calculation work in a practical example?
Take a Limerick employee, working hybrid for a company on the Dock Road, home three days a week. Over the year she paid €1,200 for electricity, €900 for gas heating and €600 for broadband, all in her own name. She counted 120 genuine remote working days from her team rota.
| Step | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Total allowable bills (A) | €1,200 + €900 + €600 | €2,700 |
| Apportion to remote days | €2,700 × 120 ÷ 365 | €887.67 |
| Apply 30% | €887.67 × 30% | €266.30 allowable |
| Relief at 20% | €266.30 × 20% | approx. €53.26 |
| Relief at 40% | €266.30 × 40% | approx. €106.52 |
Revenue's own published example uses smaller numbers and lands in the same place: bills of €1,890 over 50 remote working days give €258.90 apportioned, €77.67 allowable at 30%, and €31.07 back for a higher rate taxpayer.
Now two variations. Suppose her employer had paid the €3.20 daily allowance for all 120 days, which is €384 tax free in her pocket already. That €384 is subtracted at the D stage: (€887.67 − €384) × 30% = €151.10 allowable, worth about €60 at the higher rate. She is better off overall, because the €384 arrived untaxed, but the relief claim shrinks. Alternatively, if her partner paid half of every bill, A drops to €1,350, the allowable figure falls to €133.15, and the higher rate benefit is roughly €53. Her partner then claims on their own half and their own days.
Can my employer pay me a tax-free remote-working allowance instead?
Yes, and for a lot of people it is the better deal. An employer may pay up to €3.20 for each remote working day without deducting PAYE (Pay As You Earn), USC (Universal Social Charge) or PRSI (Pay Related Social Insurance). Over 120 days that is €384 straight into net pay, no receipts, no year-end claim.
The distinction matters: the €3.20 is something your employer may choose to pay you. It is not a flat rate you can claim from Revenue yourself. If your employer does not operate it, your route is Remote Working Relief on the 30% basis, not a €3.20 per day refund request.
No employer is obliged to pay it. Some pay nothing, some pay the full amount, and some reimburse vouched qualifying expenses instead under Revenue's expenses rules. It costs nothing to ask HR, and plenty of firms have a policy they never got around to publicising.
What employers need to get right
- Record the qualifying remote working days per employee, not a blanket assumption for the whole payroll.
- Pay the allowance through payroll with the correct treatment, and keep it separate from taxable pay in your records.
- Anything paid above €3.20 a day is taxable in the normal way, so the excess must go through PAYE, USC and PRSI.
- Where the amount is properly supported by qualifying days, it is not treated as a taxable Benefit in Kind. Where it is unsupported or excessive, Revenue can treat it as taxable pay.
- Tell employees what was paid and for how many days, because they need that figure for their own returns.
If you run a small payroll and you are not confident the treatment is right, our payroll services team deals with this every week, and it is far cheaper to set up correctly than to unpick after a Revenue query.
How do I claim Remote Working Relief through myAccount or Form 11?
There are two routes, and which one you use depends on how you are taxed. PAYE employees claim through Revenue myAccount, either in year or on the annual Income Tax Return (Form 12). Anyone who files a self-assessment return claims through ROS (Revenue Online Service) on the Form 11. Self-employed home office costs are not this relief at all: those are business expenses with their own rules.
Before you start, have these to hand:
- The tax year you are claiming for
- Total electricity, heating and broadband bills for that year, restricted to your share
- Your number of remote working days
- Any remote working allowance your employer paid you
- Copies of the bills themselves, or the same bills already uploaded to Receipts Tracker
Remember that the relief slots into your overall tax position alongside your other credits, medical expenses, pension contributions and flat rate expenses. It reduces the tax due on your income for the year, so if you happened to be under-taxed for some other reason, it may cut a balancing liability rather than produce a cash refund.
How do PAYE employees claim through myAccount?
- Sign in to myAccount on revenue.ie with your MyGovID or myAccount credentials.
- Choose the tax year you are claiming for. An in-year claim is possible for 2026, which adjusts your tax credits and shows up in your payslip rather than as a lump sum.
- Open PAYE Services and start the Income Tax Return for that year.
- Go to the tax credits and reliefs area, find "Your job", and select Remote Working Relief.
- Enter your electricity, heating and broadband figures, your number of remote working days, and any employer allowance received.
- Review the calculated amount, check it against your own working, then submit.
[Screenshot: myAccount sign-in screen and year selection, PPSN obscured.]
[Screenshot: Remote Working Relief listed under "Your job" in tax credits and reliefs.]
[Screenshot: the expense entry screen showing bills and remote working days.]
[Screenshot: submission confirmation.]
Revenue's Receipts Tracker is the tidy way to handle the paperwork. Photograph each bill as it arrives, upload it, and the figures are waiting when you file. Once the return is processed you will get a Statement of Liability showing whether you are due a refund, and refunds are paid to the bank account on your Revenue profile.
How do Form 11 filers claim through ROS?
- Sign in to ROS with your digital certificate.
- Open the Form 11 for the relevant year.
- Navigate to the employee tax credits and reliefs section of the return.
- Enter the Remote Working Relief figures for the employment concerned, net of any employer allowance.
- Run the calculation, check it against your own figures, and submit the return.
[Screenshot: selecting Form 11 for the year in ROS.]
[Screenshot: the relief field within the credits and reliefs panel.]
[Screenshot: the final computation before submission.]
If you have both PAYE employment and a side trade, be careful here. The same electricity or broadband cost cannot be claimed as Remote Working Relief against the employment and again as a business expense against the trade. Pick one treatment per euro. Contractors and freelancers juggling both should read our guide on staying tax compliant as a freelancer, or talk to us about how your annual tax return should treat the split.
What mistakes should I avoid when making a claim?
Most rejected or amended claims come down to the same handful of errors.
- Treating 30% as the refund. Thirty per cent of €2,700 is not €810 back. The day apportionment comes first, and your tax rate applies afterwards.
- Skipping the apportionment entirely. A full year of bills at 30% for someone who worked 100 days at home is a materially overstated claim.
- Assuming the €3.20 is claimable from Revenue. It is an employer payment. If your employer does not pay it, you do not get it.
- Sloppy day counts. Office days, annual leave, weekends, bank holidays and evenings spent catching up after work all get counted by someone every year. They should not be.
- Claiming the whole bill in a shared house. Your share only, every time.
- Claiming the full bundle. The television element of a triple play package is not a working expense.
- Double counting a reimbursement. If the employer already covered a cost, it is not yours to claim again.
Backdated claims need extra care because you must apply the percentage and expense rules that applied in each year rather than today's. If you spot a mistake in a claim you already filed, amend it through myAccount or ROS rather than leaving it. Voluntary corrections are treated far more kindly than ones Revenue finds first. Our tax advice team can review prior year claims if you are unsure what was submitted.
Frequently asked questions
What bills and records do I need to keep to support my claim?
Keep enough to rebuild the calculation if asked. That means:
- Electricity, heating and broadband bills for each year claimed
- Proof of payment, especially if the account is not in your name
- A note of how joint bills were split between the people paying them
- Confirmation from your employer of the remote working arrangement and any allowance paid
- A rota, diary or calendar export showing the days you worked at home
Revenue generally expects records supporting a tax return to be retained for six years. Uploading bills to Receipts Tracker as you go saves hunting for them later.
How far back can I claim Remote Working Relief?
Four years. As things stand in 2026, you can still claim for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and the 2022 claim must reach Revenue by 31 December 2026 or it is gone. Use the rules that applied in each year: 2022 onwards is 30% across electricity, heating and broadband, while 2020 and 2021 used 10% for electricity and heating with 30% for broadband.
Do I need my employer to confirm my remote-working days?
Revenue does not require a signed letter with the claim, but you do need to be able to stand over your day count. A hybrid working policy, a team rota, a calendar showing office days, or an email setting out the arrangement will all help. Where an employer keeps attendance or badge records, those are strong supporting evidence if a claim is ever queried.
Can I still claim if I changed jobs or worked remotely for only part of the year?
Yes. Qualifying days from different employments in the same tax year are added together for the one annual calculation. Just allocate the costs and any employer allowance to the right periods, so that days covered by a €3.20 payment from one employer are not also treated as unsubsidised days under another.
What should I do next?
- Confirm you have a genuine remote working arrangement with your employer.
- Count your qualifying days from a rota or calendar, not from memory.
- Gather your electricity, heating and broadband bills for each year you are claiming.
- Deduct the portion someone else paid and any allowance your employer gave you.
- Run the formula for an estimate, then claim through myAccount or on your Form 11.
- File the calculation and the bills with your tax records.
Work out the number first. If the estimate looks worth having, the claim itself takes about fifteen minutes. If your position is messier, several addresses, a mid-year job change, an employer allowance that only covered part of the year, or income from both employment and a trade, it is worth having someone look at the whole picture rather than just this one relief. Coffey & Co has been advising Limerick employees, contractors and owner-managed businesses for over 35 years, and remote working relief is usually one of several things people are leaving behind. Get in touch and we will tell you plainly what you are entitled to.
The information in this blog is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute accounting, tax, business, or legal advice. While Coffey & Co aims to ensure the content is accurate and up to date, no guarantee is given regarding its completeness or suitability for any particular purpose.