Self assessment question with regards to working at home

aprilshower

Hi Everybody,

I know somebody will be able to answer this question without having to think about it.

I work from home and use a small room for an office and also 85% of my garage as a workshop.

Over the past few years I have never claimed for using this space i.e., water rates, insurance, maintenance, mortgage interest etc.

I have decided to put in a figure for 2010/2011 for this area as I am using it within my home. However, I don't want to put in a crazy figure and be in trouble with the taxman.

I was going to put in £10 to £15 a week do you think this sounds reasonable and legal.

Thank you so much in advance but I am trying cut down my tax bill and think this would help.

Aprilshower

HappyMJ

Sounds fine. My figure is £35 a week. My calculation is based on floor area and the rent. The rent is £126 per week and the floor area taken by the business is 5/18th of the total floor area of the house. It tallies up with the local rents too. I could have rented a 1 bed flat for £91 a week (with no room for the business) and my 2 bed house costs £35 a week more.

Same goes with all the bills. Split them 5/18th's to the business.

aprilshower

HappyMJ wrote: »

Sounds fine. My figure is £35 a week. My calculation is based on floor area and the rent. The rent is £126 per week and the floor area taken by the business is 5/18th of the total floor area of the house. It tallies up with the local rents too. I could have rented a 1 bed flat for £91 a week (with no room for the business) and my 2 bed house costs £35 a week more.

Same goes with all the bills. Split them 5/18th's to the business.

Thank you for your help. Could I ask what rooms do you use in your property

Thanks

Aprilshower

MacMickster

I presume that you are self-employed. If so, then there is no hard and fast rule about how you calculate the amount to claim, but it must reflect the costs that you incur.

I doubt that the taxman would bother picking up his pen to query how you have arrived at a deduction of £15 per week if you have no other business premises that you work from.

Only you know how your business operates. Think about all of the costs of running your home and the percentage of those costs that could reasonably be attributed to running your business. You may find that it comes to more than £15 per week.

aprilshower

Thank you for the reply. I do claim half my telephone / internet charges as I use them 50 / 50.

I also claim a percentage of my electricity as I am running a few machines within my workshop which is in my garage.

I have never claimed for using the garage and an office from the point of mortgage interest, council tax, water rates. I am trying to save as much as possible at the moment as my daughter is going to Uni next year so it is going to be an expensive time.

Aprilshower

John_Pierpoint

You just might get into a tangle with future CGT and current business rates if you make it clear that a part of your property is commercial premises.

I have a neighbour who is having £1,000 a month demanded in Business Rates at the same time as the Planning Department is trying to close him down for unauthorised industrial use of agricultural premises (old barns).

Are your neighbours OK about your commercial use of the double (?) garage?

It is funny how many people seem to have time to (say) count deliveries to your home or notice that your property does not comply with parking spaces regulations, because the garage is unusable for cars.

Perhaps it depends on where you live and the population density.

olly300

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

You just might get into a tangle with future CGT and current business rates if you make it clear that a part of your property is commercial premises.

It's funny when these threads come up someone immediately says claiming money for using part of your home for business use automatically means that you have to pay CGT and business rates.

It doesn't.

It depends on exactly what your business is and what you do at home.

One of my neighbours has deliveries daily sometimes more than that to his home but I doubt anyone of us neighbours would complain about him working at home.

Likewise my brother has converted his garage into an office, and his wife also has a different office at home but none of his neighbours complain about that. Two even helped when he went to look at the properties to see to get recommendations on builders and how to do it.

The reason being is that they don't have visitors and don't make excessive noise.

aprilshower

Hi Everybody,

Right I don't have any deliveries or customers coming to my house. I deliver all the items I make or post them, so I don't really think that is a problem.

Aprilshower