Online tax assessment virgin who needs help (please)

Darvie14

I'm in the middle of completing my online tax return for my first year of trading and have a few simple questions that I really need help with and wondered if someone could help me.

I have a full time day job so already pay tax there but also run a very little craft company - just me making pictures and selling them.

I have my sales total and my costs total (my stock and supplies which I have receipts for).

What I need to know is if I can claim for anything else which I don't have receipts for - like petrol when driving to shops to buy supplies, heating/lighting/Internet etc.

I am very grateful for your advice in advance :0)

barak

If I were in your position, I would seek professional advice the first year to give you an idea of just what you in particular can claim, so that in future years you will able to do it all yourself.

pjclar02

Hello there

Yes - I think in you circumstances it will be easier to work out how many miles you have travelled in your business activities - and you can claim 40p per business mile.

You can claim a proportion of your home costs, for the room you use for business providing it is used exclusively for business. You can either claim £3 per week and fall below the HMRC radar, or you can be more aggressive and add up all your home bills, and divide by the amount of rooms in your house. I suspect this will give you a bigger number, but because of this you are more prone to HMRC scrutiny.