Home based, self employed - utility % reductions ????

PaulS43

Hi everyone,

Perhaps I'll get more help here than the 17 minutes I wasted speaking with a garden gnome at the tax help-line.

I work at home. I use the telephone and internet all day long....

As a percentage, what can I claim against the whole electric bill?

(My PCs won't work {when I am working} without it - I also need lights to see)

As a percentage, what can I claim against the gas?

(If I worked at an entirely separate location I would have to heat it, wouldn't I? Or do I sit in the cold???!!!)

As a percentage, what can I claim against my landline phone bill? Line rental and calls? Most calls are business related but I do make a tiny amount of domestic calls (though I have never measure them).

As a percentage what can I calim on my internet costs? Although I would have internet use as a plain old consumer anyway, I can not work without access to the internet. What % is reasonable???

On asking this at the tax help line I was told "keep adequate records" by the idiot who plainly didn't understand why I had rung to ask!!!! I can't put a figure on how much I'd need to heat my house if I wasn't here, nor the lights, etc as I don't have meters for these things.

Clearly my PCs (as a single example) don't run on FREE electricity !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or are these people just after their tax take on every penny I've earned and the expenses to get it are all down to me???

Any help, please... I am looking at a very daunting form!

Thankyou

JonathanA

I'm not sure if this is still the case or not, but I thought that you could either work on a percentage (room you use / number of habitable rooms in property) for your power consumption or take a flat rate of £3 per week to cover all work from home costs (heat / light / power etc). In terms of your phone bills for calls, I think you would need to get itemised bills. Not sure about you internet costs, but I'm sure someone with greater knowledge will be along soon to give definitive advice.

Have you asked Business Link? 0845 600 9 006 or www.businesslink.gov.uk as the information may be there?

Conor_3

If the room you use for your business is shared purpose, i.e you don't use it solely for your business, you can only claim the flat annual rate which AFAIK is £150.

If you use the room solely for your business, you can claim the percentage of the bill that that room represents of the house. For example, if you use one room in a 5 room house (that is all rooms, not just living), you claim 20% of the utility bills. The phone would have to be itemised calls and the internet the percentage of use which is business.

JonathanA

Conor - thanks for clarifying my thoughts.
PaulS43 - whilst I'm sure Conors advice is correct, you may get a greater response posting on the small business board.

hope it all works out.

Choc

Conor is right,bang on my friend.Do you not have an accountant yet,he/she should be able sort this out for you.


Mark

PaulS43

Can anyone recommend a good accountant in Chesterfield?

I have one bedroom completely set aside for work. theres no bed in it - just 3 PCs and the phone lines.

I make around 300 phone calls a week. Probably all but 3 or 4 of these calls are business related.

I would say perhaps 85% of my internet use is business related.

What is absolutely certain is they don't run on air and if they were taken away I would have no income whatsoever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PaulS43

And for what it's worth I think I've grossed around £10,000 in total (may well be a lot less) with a lot of driving miles too (I changed direction in June last year - I was a rep, now I do telephone market research).

rosysparkle

I have been doing some freelance bookkeeping in the last few weeks so I do know of someone in Chesterfield who might be able to help you. I don't have his details here at work but I'll PM you later.

robin_banks

Yuo will be able to claim something

System

I know it is o/t paul but can I ask how you got into telephone market research and what it involves? I am looking for something to do from home.
Thanks
Rachel

Conor_3

PaulS43 wrote: »

Can anyone recommend a good accountant in Chesterfield?

I have one bedroom completely set aside for work. theres no bed in it - just 3 PCs and the phone lines.

I make around 300 phone calls a week. Probably all but 3 or 4 of these calls are business related.

I would say perhaps 85% of my internet use is business related.

What is absolutely certain is they don't run on air and if they were taken away I would have no income whatsoever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phone lines...
So you've got more than one phone number? If so, then you claim 100% on all of those used for business and the percentage of the one shared with home use.

If you've only got one and you estimate 75% of calls are business related, claim 75% of the cost. Likewise the internet.

On your tax return, you're not asked for specifics or to provide proof, you've merely got to have proof in case you get audited. As long as the amount you're claiming sounds reasonable, you'll get left alone. It's when you use a home PC and claim 100% of its costs when quite clearly 100% of its use isn't business related that it comes unstuck.