sole trader - what % expenses at home

qwertyjjj

I know the general rule of anything for business can be expensed but I once spoke to some IT contractors who were claiming housing expenses (rent), petrol, etc.
What proprotion of expenses at home can I put towards business use because I do occasionally work from home but only one day a month for example.
broadband, laptop?

I am not VAT registered so what proportion of petrol can I claim back for business use driving to work every day?

Also, can you use credit card statements as a receipt?

Thanks

HappyMJ

One day a month? Not much then. Assuming 30 days in a month and you are using the house for business purposes for 1/3rd of that day then about I'd say about 1%. The IT contractors you know probably do a little bit of work every day such as timesheets, invoicing and seeking new contracts at home. That all counts as working hours and can be claimed for.

You can't claim anything for driving to/from a permanent workplace every day. You can claim if it's a temporary workplace for up to 24 months at 45p per mile.

You cannot use CC statements you must have itemised receipts or as close enough to them. The CC statements are a useful backup if a receipt or two is missing and you are making a declaration that there was one.

qwertyjjj

HappyMJ wrote: »

One day a month? Not much then. Assuming 30 days in a month and you are using the house for business purposes for 1/3rd of that day then about I'd say about 1%. The IT contractors you know probably do a little bit of work every day such as timesheets, invoicing and seeking new contracts at home. That all counts as working hours and can be claimed for.

You can't claim anything for driving to/from a permanent workplace every day. You can claim if it's a temporary workplace for up to 24 months at 45p per mile.

You cannot use CC statements you must have itemised receipts or as close enough to them. The CC statements are a useful backup if a receipt or two is missing and you are making a declaration that there was one.

Well seeking new contracts I do for at least 30mins everyday as it's mostly freelance so I'll count that up towards 10.5hrs a month - almost 7%. OOI, how do accountants aply this or do they just put a GUESS figure on the accounts?
Is this rent, electricity, gas, etc. or just rent?

If it's a temporary workplace for a 6month contract, then petrol is tax deductible at 45p per mile? Do you need receipts for that? How else do you prove how many miles you did? Also, I thought the 45p per mile was for ltd companies?

Would normally get an aco!!!!ant but not sure it's worth it at first as it might cost more than it saves me in tax.
Thanks

qwertyjjj

I also heard it was a percentage of the area of your house that you use as an office not your time spent in the house?

Trow

10.5 hours per month is about 1.5%. And that needs to be further reduced for what %age if the house is bring used. So say it was 1 room in a 5 room property - and adding your 1 day to the 10.5 hours. That would give you one fifth of 2.5%. So 0.5% of costs. Roughly.

Trow

The only exception to this would be if you had a room dedicated to your work, that was not used for personal use at all. Then you might be able to get away with %age area for rent purposes. But the flip side is that room (if I recal. Correctly, and this could just be a Scottish thing) might be eligible for business rates rather than council tax.