Home Office Furniture & UK Tax Relief: What HMRC Rules Actually Allow

Most UK employees working from home cannot claim tax relief on a desk or chair, and our 2026 analysis explains why the barrier is structural rather than procedural. HMRC treats furniture as plant and machinery, relieved through capital allowances rather than as a running cost, which places it outside the flat rate household expenses route that many homeworkers assume covers everything. Employees face the wholly, exclusively and necessarily test, and furniture used in a home that is also lived in almost never satisfies it. The self employed are in a stronger position because the necessarily requirement does not apply, allowing a reasonable business proportion to be claimed. Where an employer provides or reimburses homeworking equipment and private use is insignificant, HMRC guidance keeps it off the employee as a benefit. Furniture in Fashion sets out the four common purchase routes, the evidence worth keeping, and the workspace dimensions that make a business purpose credible....