Self-employed: postage & mileage

bubbleoflife_2

I'm registered as Sole-Trader and have 4 different sources of Income. But I also have 'other' income from selling the occasional book or DVD on Amazon (I do not have 'Amazon merchant account' , only an ordinary Amazon account).

Can I put the postage as part of my expenses?

About mileage: I've never bothered claiming my mileage allowance because I've only started keeping a diary since last year (and I missed a few days). I write down the mileage by reading off the figures of the odometer.
Have I got this right?
If I've travelled 606 miles and the mileage allowance is 45p, then do I understand correctly that the calculation would be
606 * 0.45 = £272.70 which is the amount I can declare as 'expense' as 'mileage allowance'?

Is 'mileage' part of the the overall business expenses or is it separate?

bubbleoflife_2

To my great astonishment I've just been told by a HMRC Technical advisor that I do not need to include sales (or expenses) I make from the occasional book or DVD on Amazon because they're personal possessions. It would only apply if I run it as a business.

Gosh! In the past years, I've always included those sales under 'any other income' . I'm confused

soolin

bubbleoflife wrote: »

To my great astonishment I've just been told by a HMRC Technical advisor that I do not need to include sales (or expenses) I make from the occasional book or DVD on Amazon because they're personal possessions. It would only apply if I run it as a business.

Gosh! In the past years, I've always included those sales under 'any other income' . I'm confused

There is a clear difference between selling items that you bought for the intention of selling, or selling your own perosnal goods.

If you are selling off your old uni books, or paperbacks etc that you no longer want then you don't need to declare anything at all, that is not a business. If however you buy books with the intention of selling them (I used to buy crates of books at auction for this purpose) then yes you are a business.

That is obviously an over simplified explanation and as usual always check with HMRC or an accountant rather than take the advice of random strangers on a forum.

Kynthia

bubbleoflife wrote: »

To my great astonishment I've just been told by a HMRC Technical advisor that I do not need to include sales (or expenses) I make from the occasional book or DVD on Amazon because they're personal possessions. It would only apply if I run it as a business.

Gosh! In the past years, I've always included those sales under 'any other income' . I'm confused

It's related to the badges of trade from what I remember, and you would need to meet a few of the conditions before you were considered to be running a business. Such as buying goods with the intention of selling them for a profit or just selling personal possessions you no longer use. Selling something soon after buying it or keeping it for a while for your personal use and enjoyment. Volume of purchases and sales, is it high or low? Do you improve the asset before sale or not?

John_Pierpoint

bubbleoflife wrote: »

I'm registered as Sole-Trader and have 4 different sources of Income.
Can I put the postage as part of my expenses?

About mileage: I've never bothered claiming my mileage allowance because I've only started keeping a diary since last year (and I missed a few days). I write down the mileage by reading off the figures of the odometer.
Have I got this right?
If I've travelled 606 miles and the mileage allowance is 45p, then do I understand correctly that the calculation would be
606 * 0.45 = £272.70 which is the amount I can declare as 'expense' as 'mileage allowance'?

Is 'mileage' part of the the overall business expenses or is it separate?

If you forget to read the odometer, you can check on something like the AA web site.

The mileage calculation is correct for the first 10,000 miles.
[You can even claim an allowance for a push bike - see HMRC web site]

If you have a modest profit you just report sales minus expenses equals profit.

http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?record=HgZl_CADaKU&formid=3182

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/factsheet/three-line-account.pdf