Statutory Instruments
Income Tax
Made
20th May 2020
Laid before the House of Commons
21st May 2020
Coming into force
11th June 2020
The Treasury, in exercise of the power conferred by section 210 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003(1), make the following Regulations:
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Income Tax (Exemption for Coronavirus Related Home Office Expenses) Regulations 2020.
(2) These Regulations come into force on 11th June 2020 and have effect for amounts reimbursed on or after that date but before the end of the tax year 2020-21.
(3) In these Regulations—
“coronavirus” has the meaning given in section 1 of the Coronavirus Act 2020(2);
“ITEPA” means the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.
2.—(1) There is no charge to tax under Chapter 10 of Part 3 (taxable benefits: residual liability to charge) of ITEPA for an amount reimbursed to an employee in respect of coronavirus related home office expenses.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1) “coronavirus related home office expenses” means expenses incurred by an employee in respect of equipment where—
(a)that equipment was obtained for the sole purpose of enabling the employee to work from home as a result of the coronavirus outbreak; and
(b)the provision of the equipment would have been exempt from income tax under section 316 of ITEPA if it had been provided directly to the employee by or on behalf of the employer.
Iain Stewart
Michael Tomlinson
Two of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Treasury
20th May 2020
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations provide for an exemption from income tax for amounts reimbursed to an employee for expenses that the employee has incurred in obtaining office equipment to enable home working necessitated by the coronavirus outbreak.
These Regulations will take effect for reimbursements made on or after the date the Regulations come into force up until the end of the tax year 2020-21.
A Tax Information and Impact Note covering this instrument will be published on the website at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-information-and-impact-notes-tiins.