1st Tax Return for Self Employed - help please!!!

WHA

caverncity wrote: »

I also asked as I use a room as an office could I claim for the room and they said no, I can only claim for utilties that have gone up except water unless its used as part of my job.

Which is why you should never rely on the "advice" of tax office staff. Assuming you are self employed as a sole trader and not a director of your own limited company, what you have been told is just about as wrong as you can get!!

Have a look at HMRC's own manual - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/BIM47825.htm

From that you will see that you can indeed apportion all the costs of your home, including mortgage interest, and certainly not just limit it to the "extra" costs you incur. Your tax office assistant clearly doesn't understand the difference between what is claimable for a sole trader and what is claimable for a limited company director or other employee.

This is just one of the very common mistakes made by the call centre and local tax office customer service assistants. Remember, the inspectors themselves are kept in the background doing proper work, they do no talk to or meet taxpayers, who have to make do with Customer service advisers who have a much lower level of training and experience.

Cute_'n'_Quirky

WHA wrote: »

This is just one of the very common mistakes made by the call centre and local tax office customer service assistants. Remember, the inspectors themselves are kept in the background doing proper work, they do no talk to or meet taxpayers, who have to make do with Customer service advisers who have a much lower level of training and experience.

In my case this is NOT true. I make an appointment and I speak to The Tax Inspector at my local office.

Bean_Counter

I'm with WHA on this. Helpdesk know less than I do.

However, face to face is a good idea.