self assessment help

scotte666

hi all,im a carpenter and im trying to do my self assesment for the 1st time(had accountant last few years) stuck on some questions about capital allowances and annual investment allowance though if anyone can help??

i spent £1245 on new tools, equipment and a laptop. am i right in thinking i can claim this full amount under aia???

the next question is allowance for small balance of unrelieved expenditure?no idea about this

and finally on capital allowances for my van that i bought for £7000 in 2007.can i claim 20% of this value? £1400?

im confused as the help site talks about subtracting the aia from this amount, i even phoned up the help line and he seem confused.any1 who can help and explain it simply for me would be greatly appreciated.

also if i was to make a mistake on my return would they send my return back to me(will i get fined) or will i get a rebate that im due and will it come off what i owe next year

thanks

thanks

Merlin_Accounts

You need to ask your old accountant to give you copies of how they have calculated this for you in previous years so you can see what has rolled forward to the year you are now trying to do.

The AIA is for new qualifying purchases - any unrelieved costs from earlier years can continue to be claimed using the writing down allowance %age appropriate to the asset type. If you spend more than £50k in one year on qualifying assets the unrelieved costs are eligible for writing down allowance too. The AIA is not the same as FYA and can be claimed alongside WDA.

Mary_Hartnell

Can we talk English please.

Elaine_Wilson

The £1,245 can be claimed in full providing all the expenditure relates to business use.

You bought the van in 2007. Did you not claim any allowance on this in your 2007/08 tax return? Your 20% will only be available on the balance after deducting any relief claimed last year.

Is there any private use of the van? If so, then the 20% figure will have to be reduced by the relevant private percentage.

The small balance of unrelieved expenditure refers to the amounts that are carried forward each year to claim the writing down allowance in future years. In your case it may only be the balance remaining on the van after any First Year Allowance that might have been claimed last year. It is, of course, possible that there was a balance of other equipment bought in earlier years.

The calculation each year is to add together the balance brought forward and any expenditure not qualifying for the Annual Investment Allowance. Then deduct the sale proceeds of any assets sold during the year. This will give you the figure on which the 20% WDA is calculated. But if this figure is less than £1,000 then the whole lot can be written off. This is just to keep the calculations simple so that you don't go on for years claiming tiny amounts on a reducing balance.