Hi, can anyone please help tax return problem

littletinyheids

Hi,

I cannot get hold of any technician at the Self Assessment helpline, so can anyone please help.
Basically I work from home (one bed, one kitchen and one lounge) in a bungalow.

Now I know I can claim back a percentage of my mortage, heating and council tax... What what percent? I have no clue. I normally call up and they tell me but I have forgotten and it's now I cannot get hold of them.

Thanks if anyone know - really stuck here.x

fengirl_2

You cannot claim anything, but you can include a proportion of your household running costs in your accounts and this will reduce the tax due. As you are not using one room solely for business, you are really going to have to take a view on what the additional costs are for working from home in your particular case. HMRC cannot tell you the figure, its up to you to put in something reasonable.

PasturesNew

You calculate how many square feet you use, as a percentage of the whole house. Then how many hours/week you use it, as a percentage of 24 hours a day.

Then you use that.

So, if you use 1/10th of the space, for 8 hours/day (let's say 7 days per week as it makes my maths easier), then it'd be:

0.1*.33
That's 1/10th of the space, 1/3rd of the time.

So, if the bills totalled £1000, it'd work out at:
1000*.1*.33 = £33 : http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=1000*.1*.33&meta=&aq=f&oq=

That's what I did, based on: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/BIM47825.htm

orangeslimes

You don't need to be so precise as counting square feet.
If you had house with three bedrooms and one lounge and you use one bedroom as an office then 1/4 might be reasonable.
If you used the room half the time as an office then 1/8th might be reasonable.

There is no real exact rule.