Can I claim my home broadband bill as a business expense if I work from home?
Yes, but only a proportion of the cost. Because your home broadband has a dual purpose — personal use and business use — you cannot claim the full bill. HMRC requires you to claim only the business-use proportion. To calculate this, estimate the percentage of time you use the broadband for work versus personal use. For example, if you work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, and the broadband is also used by your family in the evenings and weekends, a reasonable split might be 30–40% for business. Alternatively, if you use the flat-rate home office allowance (£10/month for 25–50 hours/month, £18/month for 51–100 hours/month, or £26/month for 100+ hours/month), this is intended to cover all home working costs including broadband, heating, and lighting — so you cannot claim broadband separately on top of the flat rate. If you have a separate business broadband line used exclusively for work, you can claim 100% of that cost.
- Only the business-use proportion is claimable — estimate based on time split
- Cannot claim 100% because broadband has personal use too
- If using HMRC flat rate (£10–£26/month), broadband is already included — no separate claim
- A dedicated business-only broadband line can be claimed at 100%
- Keep your broadband invoices and document your business-use calculation