Tax & Assets

MOPI

Hi I am currently working full-time and self-employed for LionBridge. I am new to the world of being self-employed and to be honest know very little about it. I am considering purchasing a new laptop to help me both complete work for my self-employed role and to help with day-to-day activities. As I will be using the equipment during my self-employment status can I re-claim some of the expinditure through the tax?

I have tried to research this matter myself however I am finding it VERY HARD to understand how it is calculated etc.


Thanks in advance!

Notmyrealname

TBH you're best having separate computers. Home computers tend to get infested with malware which is not what you want on a machine you work on.

persa

MOPI wrote: »

I am considering purchasing a new laptop to help me both complete work for my self-employed role and to help with day-to-day activities. As I will be using the equipment during my self-employment status can I re-claim some of the expinditure through the tax?

I have tried to research this matter myself however I am finding it VERY HARD to understand how it is calculated etc.

In short, you could potentially get tax relief for the laptop at your marginal rate, however only on the business element. If you are going to primarily use the laptop in your "day-to-day activities", it may not be worth your while claiming against it. Unsurprisingly, you get no tax relief for 'business' equipment used mainly or solely for personal affairs!

MoneySavingUser

Assuming you use it only for business use or can reasonable demonstrate the split between business and personal use - you can get tax relief at the marginal rate as mentioned above by claiming the business use element of the cost as part of your 'Annual Investment Allowance'

MOPI

Hi thanks for everyone's repsonses! Very helpful, as usual.

One last question though - how much tax relief do you get or does this depend on a number of factors?

Thanks again

Notmyrealname

MOPI wrote: »

Hi thanks for everyone's repsonses! Very helpful, as usual.

One last question though - how much tax relief do you get or does this depend on a number of factors?

Thanks again

OK...

You buy a laptop for £1000. You use it 50% for business, 50% private. You get 50% or £500 relief. However that is a £500 offset against your taxable income, you don't get £500 given back. If you don't earn enough money to pay any tax you get nothing back. If you earn £500 over the basic rate threshold you'd save £100 in tax so you effectively get £100 in your pocket although you don't see it as its taken off the bill.

MOPI

Notmyrealname wrote: »

OK...

You buy a laptop for £1000. You use it 50% for business, 50% private. You get 50% or £500 relief. However that is a £500 offset against your taxable income, you don't get £500 given back. If you don't earn enough money to pay any tax you get nothing back. If you earn £500 over the basic rate threshold you'd save £100 in tax so you effectively get £100 in your pocket although you don't see it as its taken off the bill.

Oh right, thats great, thanks for explaining it in simple terms for me!