claiming for household bills - please help

smik_2

hi,
justtrying to complete my tax return and have been unable to get through to a technical adviser at HMRC to answer some simple questions.

just wondering if anyone can help??

I use 1 room in my house for business - how do I work out what percentage of household bills I can claim for?? There are 7 rooms in total in my house incl kitchen and bathroom so do I claim a seventh of the costs?? or do you not include kitchens/bathrooms?? which would make it a fifth of the cost??

also can I offset my mortgage payments against tax? or is it just the mortgage interest that I can offset??

hope you can help

thank you
Karen

HappyMJ

See this.. You can only claim the "extra" costa so it's much easier just claiming £3 per week.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/BeginnersGuideToTax/IncomeTax/Taxallowancesandreliefs/DG_078386

PlutoinCapricorn

The £3 per week applies only to employees who are required to work at home.

Self employed people need to make an estimate of their running costs: I think that the kitchen and bathroom are discounted, which makes 20% a reasonable proportion. You need to be able to justify this in case of an investigation: people who are at home online for most of the time can claim more that people whose work takes them away for most of thetime.

Water, electricity, council tax, mortgage interest, phone bills, internet are some of the things that you can claim a reasonable proportion of.

PlutoinCapricorn

You are not alone: take a look at this thread. Fengirl is a former HMRC person so I would go by what she says:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2211147&highlight=mortgage+interest

smik_2

thank you - hopefully get this thing finished today!!!