Working from home: the flat rate bands
The rate is per month and depends on how many hours a month you work from home. It is only available from 25 hours a month upwards, and the bands are unchanged for 2026-27.
| Flat rate | Hours you work from home |
|---|---|
| £10 a month | 25 to 50 hours a month |
| £18 a month | 51 to 100 hours a month |
| £26 a month | 101 or more hours a month |
Phone and internet are not in the flat rate, and are claimed separately as a business proportion. The flat rate also does not stop a separate claim for the business proportion of council tax, home insurance or mortgage interest where that can be identified.
Living at your business premises
If you live at or above the business, as a guesthouse, bed and breakfast or small care home owner often does, simplified expenses give you a flat monthly amount to take off your premises costs instead of working out the private share by hand. It is meant for premises mainly used for the trade, so it is not a way to write off part of an ordinary home.
| Flat rate | Who it covers |
|---|---|
| £350 a month | One person living at the premises |
| £500 a month | Two people |
| £650 a month | Three or more people |
The figure is subtracted from the total premises costs. If the premises cost £15,000 a year and two people live there, take off 12 x £500 (£6,000) and £9,000 is left to claim.
Mortgage interest, business rates and council tax (domestic rates in Northern Ireland) sit outside this flat rate, so claim the trade proportion of those separately. The flat rate itself is there to cover the non-business share of household goods, services, rent, utilities, food and non-alcoholic drinks.
The vehicle flat rate
For a car or goods vehicle the flat rate is the simplified mileage rate: 55p a mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p a mile after that, or 24p a mile for a motorcycle on all business miles. There is no flat rate for a bicycle if you are self-employed.
The vehicle flat rate is not a one-off choice. You do not have to use it for every vehicle, but once you use it for one, you must keep using it for that vehicle while it is in the business.
When the flat rates are worth it
A flat rate is worth using when it beats what your receipts would add up to, or when the same money is not worth the paperwork. Working from home is the common case: £26 a month is £312 a year for anyone who works from home 101 hours a month or more, and there is nothing to add up.
On vehicles the commitment makes the decision heavier. Compare the flat rate with a realistic figure for your fuel, servicing, insurance, tax and repairs before you adopt it, because you cannot switch back while that vehicle is in the business.
Expenses with no flat rate at all, such as phone and broadband, are worked out from actual costs. Simplified expenses are for sole traders and partnerships with no company partners, so a limited company cannot use them.
One method at a time
For each vehicle you either use the flat rate or claim actual costs. You cannot run the flat rate alongside fuel and repair receipts for the same van, and a vehicle you have claimed capital allowances on, or already expensed, cannot go on the flat rate.
Where a flat rate applies, it stands in for the costs it covers, and anything outside it is claimed on its own terms, as a business proportion where the cost is mixed.