Self-employed as a DJ - allowable expenses?

246 Posts


in Cutting tax
I am starting to work self-employed (in addition to my normal job) as a DJ.
I'm only doing one regular gig for a client per week, so I won't be earning very much income (I'm basically doing it for the fun of it, more than anything).
While I obviously know about how my income will be taxed, what I'm less clear about is what I can claim in expenses?
- I assume I can claim travel to the venue from home as a mileage expense - HMRC sets this out at 40p/mile, and I travel 30 miles in an evening so that would presumably be £12 expense per gig?
- If I want to claim for equipment I purchase, this is presumably a Capital Allowance (as it is a fixed asset) - at the moment I'm mostly using equipment at the venue but I'm gradually purchasing more of my own for potential use elsewhere.
- Can I claim for music purchased exclusively for DJing with as an expense? I've purchased a lot of CDs and downloads that I store on my laptop to DJ with, and it'd be good if I can claim these back against my income
Any help appreciated!
I'm only doing one regular gig for a client per week, so I won't be earning very much income (I'm basically doing it for the fun of it, more than anything).
While I obviously know about how my income will be taxed, what I'm less clear about is what I can claim in expenses?
- I assume I can claim travel to the venue from home as a mileage expense - HMRC sets this out at 40p/mile, and I travel 30 miles in an evening so that would presumably be £12 expense per gig?
- If I want to claim for equipment I purchase, this is presumably a Capital Allowance (as it is a fixed asset) - at the moment I'm mostly using equipment at the venue but I'm gradually purchasing more of my own for potential use elsewhere.
- Can I claim for music purchased exclusively for DJing with as an expense? I've purchased a lot of CDs and downloads that I store on my laptop to DJ with, and it'd be good if I can claim these back against my income
Any help appreciated!
0
This discussion has been closed.
Latest MSE News and Guides
Replies
Equipment is certainly capital items, but repairs are an expense. Do you wear anything that is obviously for work only?
Rudyard Kipling
You can!
DFW NERD 1068 :cool: Avios 78,000
Just wanted to check that I can genuinely count those are how I should claim for them - the whole tax system is very confusing when it gets to the expenses part!
The famous one is assuming that the bottles of lager translate into a given number of meals in a curry house.
So go in and offer to drink "lassi" with the customers from the Indian subcontinent and ask for a discount?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lassi
I would suggest you open a separate bank account particularly if you are thinking of doing more work going forward. This will not only mean you come across professional but will also be able to keep business separate so be able to show your exact income / expense etc
You seem to have covered most of the things that you can claim as expenses. You might be able to claim some of your broadband costs as expenses particularly if you use it to download music.
This might help you with your self-employment: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1073875654&r.l3=1073861140&r.l2=1073859158&r.t=DECISION&r.i=1073792556&r.l1=1073858805&r.s=e
Good luck
Regards
Linda