can I claim for a shed?

huxley

Hi I have a couple of questions for those of you with more knowledge than me:D. My dh is a self employed gardener we are going to have to purchase a shed to keep his tools in the shed is going to cost approx £600, we would not be getting a shed if he didn't need it for his business so can I put any of the cost as an expense?
Second question we are hoping to give ds2 2 days work a week as from april, he is about to qualify as a plasterer but is finding trouble finding work, the plan is if we pay him then he can register himself as s.e. get insurance etc but earnings from us would help him do this. So basically is it better for us to employ him and pay his tax or for him to pay his own tax as self employed?
Thank you for any information you can give.

nomoneytoday

I would say that the shed is a reasonable expense / Fixed asset.

If you son works solely for you, then IMHO you're on thin ice as far as being self employed. Does he use his tools or yours, does he work elsewhere etc?

paddyrg

The shed should be fine - if it's 100% business use, it is a business cost.

If son is going to be self-employed anyway, he will be doing a tax return anyway, so it may be easier for everyone to not muddy the waters and have him invoice you for the odd day here or there as a casual labourer? Not sure how HMRC see it though.

huxley

Thank you for your replies, thought the shed might be ok but wondered if it was wishful thinking on my part.
Our son does have basic garden tools of his own but not the larger items, gardening is only a stop gap whilst he places ads for small plastering jobs to get him into his preferred line of work.

CKhalvashi

I’ve got a shed that’s at the end of my garden (and used as an office). The general rule that if it’s specifically for business, then it’s allowable works a treat in 99.9% of circumstances.

jexygirl

When you say "claim" I assume you mean put it through the books as a business purchase, then the answer would be of course if it is used solely for the business.
As for your son, you already said you hope to employ him 2 days a week - that sounds like regular employment on set days at set times so he should be taken on by you and PAYE etc. However, if it was more freelance type work, different times and days, maybe 3 days one week, 1 another, differing hours depending on the work, available, that is more of a freelance / self employed basis, so his PAYE etc. would be down to him as self employed and you would simply pay an invoice that he would provide you with for the work undertaken - but this is VERY dodgey area and I would suggest a free half hour with several accountants might be the way to go.

I am wary as I am mid Tax "spot inspection" and the only thing they are questioning was a self employed freelance chef who on and off worked for us for approx 8 months, but it was during a time when we were looking for a permanent chef, so would trial one for 1 or 2 weeks, then get him back when the trial was not working (7 times!) Or have him in to show the trialists how we did things etc. In the end, we couldn't find one, so he trained me in about 3 months - but it was never set hours, nor days as he did not want permanent or full time hours, he did what we needed.
HMRC are querying if he should have been employed because it was over a period of 8 months and he earned 15k here - they just want to make sure they had their cut... They did, he paid it, but we are the subject of the check and are clean as a whistle - apart from this query - hence be very careful.

eric_blair

Had this discussion with my accountant this year (I work from home in the 'shed').

I was told I can't claim on the building itself as its a capital asset (ie increases the value of the house and would be taken into account in any sale), but I can claim on all the inside aspects, ie, linking up the electrics to the house, heating, flooring etc.

Acc72

eric_blair wrote: »

Had this discussion with my accountant this year (I work from home in the 'shed').

I was told I can't claim on the building itself as its a capital asset (ie increases the value of the house and would be taken into account in any sale), but I can claim on all the inside aspects, ie, linking up the electrics to the house, heating, flooring etc.

But this is an actual £600 garden shed - I assume that your "shed" is slightly different ?

Also, if your "shed" is portable - how can this increase the value of your house ?

huxley

Hi thank you for all the replies I am going to contact an accountant and the tax office to see where we stand. The shed will be just a basic shed, we don't have a garage attached to the house and need somewhere safe to store equipment/service and clean it without renting one in a block nearby where it may become obvious to some little darlings that we have something worth pinching! As for my son I may have to rethink the whole thing if it gets too involved, it was just that when he leaves college we know that he will struggle to get work,he may have the qualification but he wont have the experience, he went through exactly the same thing 3years ago after 2years bricklaying course, couldn't even give his labour away because of all different regulations that have to be met. We just wanted to help him get on his feet but without just giving him money,but encouraging him to work to earn to achieve his goals, but we are just a one man band gardener and after we have paid all the costs of running the business only scrape by.