Self assessment - questions from a novice

Innerapple

Hi there,

Sorting out my self assessment for 09/10 but I have a couple of questions and would fully appreciate any advice.

- I worked from home 3 / 4 days a week for 3 months in a dedicated home office, can I claim for a % of my mortgage, utilities, broadband? Anything else?
- Is there a maximum mileage allowance? Having driven about 3000 miles up and down the country, if I claim it at 40p per mile it’s a huge amount!
- Is the laptop I bought to do the freelance work a capital expense? I couldn’t do the work without it and when I bought it I thought I’d be freelancing for longer. At approx £800, what can I claim?

Not sure if this also helps but as a little background: In June, July and August 2009 I left my PAYE job and was self employed then I went back to PAYE in September. My tax code is 647L and my income was about £2500 for each month.

This has also been irking me but I guess it’s too late now:
Last year I completed a self assessment to show that I had made no profit while letting my flat; however I was charged £700 for Bupa benefit for a job which I left in January 2009. I asked why the bill was so steep but couldn’t find any answers. Am I over reacting - is that a perfectly sensible amount? Or, does anyone know what it should have cost since the cover stopped as soon as I left the job (Jan 2008- Jan 2009) and I only had the lowest level of cover?

Massive thanks : )

mr_tickle_2

Speaking as someone who's just done their SA, and who is definitely not a tax professional:

...can I claim for a % of my mortgage, utilities, broadband?

I think HMRC's guidance is that you can claim £3 per week for working from home. Claiming things like broadband can only be done if they were wholly used for business purposes. Don't take my word for it though!

Is there a maximum mileage allowance?

No. After all, if you do 60,000 miles for business, you should be able to claim for 60,000 miles! However, the tax allowance is for only the first 10,000 miles to be at 40p/mile. After that it's 25p/mile. So you can claim £1200 for 3000 miles.

Innerapple

Excellent, thanks mr_tickle!
Now, does anyone have an idea about the laptop or Bupa?

chrismac1

You can claim the laptop. The BIK should be the actual amount paid on your behalf. This can vary a lot depending on how the company did the deal with BUPA. Individual premia can vary a lot from employee to employee:

1. A fit 21 year old female non-smoker low drinker with no pre-existing health conditions will not cost much.
2. An overweight 50 year old male who smokes and drinks too much, with a wife in the same shape, each with high blood pressure - and with the company paying family BUPA to include 3 kids - is going to cost a packet.

If this is a one sized fits all corporate deal, the 21 year old female is going to more than her fair share - but she'll still often be better off than if she did her own deal with BUPA because the company gets a volume discount and is paying the bill for her.

Innerapple

Ah well - I guess that's just the price I pay for being a fit 21 year old!
Thanks chrismac1.