Self Assessment - home office

Triple_M

I am self-employed and have a room in my home that I use as an office and occasionally to host business meetings.

I've read up on allowable expenses via the HMRC website. I understand that I can claim against utility (electricity/gas) bills; however I am still in the dark as to whether or not I can claim a tax allowance in respect of a proportion (relative to the total number of rooms in my house) of

Mortgage payments
Council tax bill

I would welcome some MSExpert guidance!:rotfl:

Sharon

chrismac1

You potentially can, PM me for fuller details. However, it may simplify things to say that you can claim £3 per week "no questions asked". But plenty of businesses run from home can claim a lot more than £3 per week totally legitimately.

PlutoinCapricorn

I claim a proportion of utilities, also Council Tax. Apparently mortgage interest can be claimed too.

You do need to justify any proportion claimed: someone who works almost entirely at home obviously uses more electricity than someone who is out seeing clients all day. There is no need to monitor every minute spend working/drinking coffee, but you do need to be able to justify your figures if necessary, and they should be 'reasonable'.

You have business meetings at your home: have you got Public Liability Insurance?