If you’re self-employed and work from home, you can usually claim part of your household costs — things like electricity, gas, broadband, rent, or Council Tax — as business expenses.
But what if those bills are paid by your partner or come out of a joint account? Can you still claim them on your tax return?
Let’s break down how it works and how to stay on the right side of HMRC.
1. The golden rule: you can only claim what you actually pay
HMRC’s rule is simple — you can only claim expenses that are “wholly and exclusively” for business.
That means you can only include costs that you personally incur. If the household bills are paid from your own account, great — you’ve clearly incurred them.
If your partner pays them, or they’re coming from a shared account, you just need to be able to show that you’ve contributed or that you bear part of the cost.
2. When your partner pays the household bills
If your partner pays all the bills from their own bank account and you never reimburse them, HMRC may say you haven’t personally incurred that cost — so technically, you can’t claim it.
However, you still have options:
- ✅ Use simplified expenses — HMRC lets you claim a flat monthly rate based on how many hours you work from home. You don’t need to show who paid each bill.
- ✅ Reimburse your partner for your share of the household costs and keep a simple record (like a bank transfer or a note in your accounts).
- ✅ Agree a shared-cost arrangement where you contribute a fixed percentage to the bills — even if your partner’s name is on them.
With evidence of a contribution or reimbursement, you can show HMRC that you’ve “incurred” your share of the cost.
3. When the bills are paid from a joint account
If bills are paid from a joint account, HMRC usually accepts that both partners share responsibility for those costs.
In this case, you can claim your business portion of the household expenses as long as:
- The account is in both names.
- You have records (like online statements) showing the payments.
- You can explain how you calculated the percentage used for business (for example, one room out of five used as an office, or 8 hours a day used for work).
Keeping a short note of your calculation is enough if you’re ever asked to justify the claim.
4. Two ways to claim home-working expenses
You can claim your home office and utility costs in one of two ways:
Option 1 — Simplified Expenses (easy and HMRC-approved)
If you work from home at least 25 hours per month, HMRC allows you to use flat monthly rates instead of tracking individual bills:
| Hours worked from home per month | Flat rate per month |
| 25 to 50 hours | £10 |
| 51 to 100 hours | £18 |
| 101 hours or more | £26 |
This method is ideal if your partner pays the bills or they come from a joint account — you don’t need to show receipts or work out percentages.
Option 2 — Actual Costs (for higher accuracy)
If you want to claim based on your real bills, you’ll need to:
- Work out the business percentage — e.g. one room out of five used for work = 20%.
- Adjust for time — e.g. 8 hours of business use per day = one-third of the day.
- Multiply these percentages by your annual household bills.
- Keep the evidence: bills, statements, and your working-from-home calculation.
This can give you a higher claim if your business use is significant, but requires more record-keeping.
5. Example: How this works in real life
Example — Sarah the freelance copywriter
Sarah works from home three days a week. Her partner pays all the household bills from a joint account.
Sarah works about 60 hours per month from home, so she uses the simplified expenses method.
She claims £18 per month (£216 per year) for home-working costs on her tax return.
She doesn’t need to provide utility bills or prove who paid them — the flat-rate method covers everything.
If Sarah wanted to claim actual costs instead, she could work out that 10% of the electricity bill relates to her home office. As long as she can show she shares the bills through the joint account, she can claim that 10% of the total cost.
6. Tips to keep your claim safe and simple
- Keep a short note showing how you calculated your claim (either the flat-rate hours or the business percentage).
- Avoid claiming 100% of any household bill — HMRC won’t allow it if there’s personal use.
- Use the simplified expenses method if bills aren’t paid directly by you.
- Keep digital copies of statements or bills in case HMRC asks for them later.
- If your partner also works from home, make sure you don’t both claim the same portion of the same bill.
