Advice on draft SOAs, please

DecisionTime

I wonder if anyone knowledgeable is able to comment/advise on our draft SOAs, shown below.

Our rent and council tax may appear high to some, but they are the going rate for a 3 bed semi in the area of North London we live.

Would welcome any advice on where we may be over, under, or have missed something we could claim for.

On these figures, there is less than £200 left from our joint net income.

Although now employed on PAYE, we are based at and work from home, and have to have proper facilities, not just the dining room table. Just the nature of the work we do.

Where expenses are effectively joint, I have marked them as 'shared'. In reality just about everything is. The splits are broadly proportionate to our relative incomes.

Thanks for any advice you are able to give.


Rent (shared)........................945....405
Council Tax (shared)...............140.....60
Domestic (shared)..................280...120
Water (shared)........................21......9
Electric (shared)......................35.....15
Gas (shared)...........................28.....12
Contents Insurance (shared).....12.......5
Mobiles (individual)..................25.....15
Phone (shared)........................20.....10
Petrol.....................................45.... 15
Car Insurance (shared)..............17......7
Car Maintenance (shared)..........30.....10
Road Tax (shared).....................7.......3
TV License (shared)...................8.......4
Broadband (shared)..................10......5
Statonery & Postage.................10......5
(we both work from home)
Office Equipment......................20....10
(repair/replace - we both work from home)
Medical/Optical (individual)........30....30
(we are both 60s with health issues)
Personal Care (individual)..........25....15
Car Parking (shared).................10......5
Birthday Presents (shared).........20....10
Holiday Fund (shared)................40....20
Emergency Fund (shared)............20...10

lisamummytoarchieplusbump

DecisionTime wrote: »

I wonder if anyone knowledgeable is able to comment/advise on our draft SOAs, shown below.

Our rent and council tax may appear high to some, but they are the going rate for a 3 bed semi in the area of North London we live.

Would welcome any advice on where we may be over, under, or have missed something we could claim for.

On these figures, there is less than £200 left from our joint net income.

Although now employed on PAYE, we are based at and work from home, and have to have proper facilities, not just the dining room table. Just the nature of the work we do.

Where expenses are effectively joint, I have marked them as 'shared'. In reality just about everything is. The splits are broadly proportionate to our relative incomes.

Thanks for any advice you are able to give.


Rent (shared)........................945....405
Council Tax (shared)...............140.....60
Domestic (shared)..................280...120
Water (shared)........................21......9
Electric (shared)......................35.....15 60-70
Gas (shared)...........................28.....12 60
Contents Insurance (shared).....12.......5 20
Mobiles (individual)..................25.....15
Phone (shared)........................20.....10 normally only allowed up to 60 for landline and mobile
Petrol.....................................45.... 15
Car Insurance (shared)..............17......7 put 40
Car Maintenance (shared)..........30.....10
Road Tax (shared).....................7.......3
TV License (shared)...................8.......4
Broadband (shared)..................10......5
Statonery & Postage.................10......5
(we both work from home)
Office Equipment......................20....10
(repair/replace - we both work from home)
Medical/Optical (individual)........30....30
(we are both 60s with health issues)
Personal Care (individual)..........25....15
Car Parking (shared).................10......5
Birthday Presents (shared).........20....10 may not be allowed but leave in
Holiday Fund (shared)................40....20
Emergency Fund (shared)............20...10

hello i think if you group all your buisness expenses together and show a breakdown when the OR requests it

are you both going br?

LilyBart

Hello,
Slightly confused by your employment status. If you're PAYE are the business expenses - broadband, postage, equipment etc - reimbursed by the company you are both working for? If not, are they tax-deductable? If so, you would also need to set off a proportion of the electricity/gas for the room you work in, and the OR might be able to argue that you can't claim twice for the same thing, if you see what I mean. It might be best to keep quiet about the fact that you need working space (the OR may try and argue that you could do what you do at the kitchen table!) and absorb some of the postage and equipment costs into your housekeeping, which is very low. The allowance for an individual is £187, I think.
best
Lily
ps I'm south of the river and your rent does not look too high at all!
pps If you need to attend meetings with your employer/clients, add in an appropriate sum for dry cleaning.

lisamummytoarchieplusbump

ahh liliybart see youve been missed, everyone misses off drycleaning

LilyBart

It's my vocation. (Polishes halo.) But I'd far rather be someone who knows about useful stuff like school dinners or disability allowance....

lisamummytoarchieplusbump

you will little apprentice be paitent

LilyBart

I live in hope. See that third medal - it's from the dry cleaners!

But getting back to Decisiontime's original post, what I'm trying to say with regard to household expenses versus business expenses is that this looks like a grey area and while there are many grey areas in bankruptcy, my impression is that it is always less of a headache for an OR if you can present something as clear and simple as possible. It's also a good idea to build in as much elastic into your I+E as you can, otherwise unexpected emergencies (broken washing machines/cars etc) can really throw you off kilter during bankruptcy.

philnicandamy

LilyBart wrote: »

It's my vocation. (Polishes halo.) But I'd far rather be someone who knows about useful stuff like school dinners or disability allowance....

Ohh good your are...dry cleaning you know.....patience my young jedi

LilyBart

Something about that ear-hair you need to do, Phil...

DecisionTime

Thank you for your advice, LilyBart

One question on the point you make about individual allowances. You say you think it's £187 per person. The amount I put in the draft SOA totals £400 for my OH and me, which is more than 2x187, yet you are saying the amounts shown (280 for one and 120 for the other) are too low? Seems to conflict! Or should both amounts be the same in any case, despite the difference in our incomes?

DT

LilyBart wrote: »

Hello,
Slightly confused by your employment status. If you're PAYE are the business expenses - broadband, postage, equipment etc - reimbursed by the company you are both working for? If not, are they tax-deductable? If so, you would also need to set off a proportion of the electricity/gas for the room you work in, and the OR might be able to argue that you can't claim twice for the same thing, if you see what I mean. It might be best to keep quiet about the fact that you need working space (the OR may try and argue that you could do what you do at the kitchen table!) and absorb some of the postage and equipment costs into your housekeeping, which is very low. The allowance for an individual is £187, I think.
best
Lily
ps I'm south of the river and your rent does not look too high at all!
pps If you need to attend meetings with your employer/clients, add in an appropriate sum for dry cleaning.

philnicandamy

LilyBart wrote: »

Something about that ear-hair you need to do, Phil...

I know......having a bit of an off day sorry :rolleyes: