What can I claim as sole trader working from home?

asoe209

Thanks for pointing that out, As for the landlord they are fine about it as they are friend of the other half and no my plans already.

The insurance is another matter, I dont currentley has home insurance any way so will have to get that I guess since I have never had it then I wont notice what the price will be.

As I have never had it before what id i need to looking for just normal home insurance and explain that there will also be items stored there. bearing in mind that its not a grantee that I will even have stock for a good part of the year.

lovinituk

I have my business insurance (including stock insurance) through these guys...

http://www.thebusinessoctopus.co.uk/

Have a look at the Internet Traders Insurance they offer.

When I was looking at working from home they did say they could recommend home insurers that would cover home based businesses. I never went that far in the end so have no idea who they recommend.

asoe209

Thanks just got a quote from that link, came up at £90 for the year with 9 payments of £9.62.

So does that me I would also have to get home insurance as well? then again in saying that its the business that pay this and me and my partner would pay the home insurance.

lovinituk

asoe209 wrote: »

Thanks just got a quote from that link, came up at £90 for the year with 9 payments of £9.62.

So does that me I would also have to get home insurance as well? then again in saying that its the business that pay this and me and my partner would pay the home insurance.

Yes you would still need to get home insurance but if you are renting then you should only need contents insurance. The home insurance will cover your personal stuff and the business insurance should cover your stock (if you asked for it).

John_Pierpoint

You only need to insure for disasters that you cannot afford to withstand. Large companies self insure (they might pay an insurance company to handle claims but the payout if financed by the company itself).

I would be more concerned that you have done a risk assessment and minimised the risks. For example have you reinforced you point of entry? Is there a fire risk in the stuff you are selling?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/02/1096855/-PSA-Burning-Plastic-Can-Kill-You

asoe209

My property has a security door. then my front door is just standard 1 chub lock and normal key lock.

As for fire risk it should be ok. nothing will be plugged into mains or stored by heating etc. but a very valid point.

I got my council tax bill in to and also found this site which may be the best way for me to work these things out.

What do you think?

John_Pierpoint

A typical burglar is a 18 year old junkie. It is the strength of your door frame rather than the number of locks that matters.

I cannot really advise on the web site, someone else in your line of business would probably the best place to start. Presumably your place of business will be your home?
So any journeys you take on behalf of the business will be tax allowable. yes even on a bicycle (contrary to what the web site seems to think):D

asoe209

Hi all just wanted to check if these calculations seem ok for counicil tax gas & electric for the last 3 months when I stated trading.

I estimated that 40% of the time i spend on business in the living room and 5% in another room.

the claulations I used were from a website and this was there example

For example:

I live in a house with 10 rooms.

Of those rooms, I work sometimes in my office and sometimes in my living-room, on my computer. The office is also used for hobby use as a music-room, and I estimate that I use it for business 85% of the time. The living-room is only rarely used for business, I’d estimate 10%.

(HM Revenue are happy to accept a reasonable estimate of business use. They don’t expect you to sit with a ticking time-clock totting up how much time you spend working in each room.)
I receive an electricity bill for £123.69. How do I work out the business element of that?
Divide into number of rooms: 123.69 / 10 = £12.37 for each room
Office use: £12.37 x 85% = £10.51
Living-room use: £12.37 x 10% = £1.24
Both rooms: £10.51 + £1.24 = £11.79
So I would put £11.79 into my accounts under “Use of Home”.

My results were as follows
Gas £10.04
Electric £8.61
Council Tax £21.21