Tax on mystery shopping and online surveys

eldaniel

Hi,
I am just filling in my tax return for 2012/2013 for doing online surveys and mystery shopping (probably not many people do, but I am one of the silly ones).
I have a question in regards of tax deduction. If I purchased a tablet purely to be able to do surveys on the go, can I deduct it from my income from self employment? I believe I can. I am just not sure if it is 100% of what I paid or less. Also I do not have a proper VAT receipt for that as I bought it for ebay, but not sure if that is relevant.
Many thanks for your help in advance.

PasturesNew

Do you use it for other things?
A VAT receipt is irrelevant, you're not VAT registered.

eldaniel

It would be a lie if I said that no, as with even PC at work people often using it for other purposes, so sometimes I go on facebook or check something on the web, but the main purpose for buying it was to be able to do the surveys online on the go.

Now I have just realised that my question is a bit irrelevant, because I purchased it on 09/04/13, so few days after end of the tax year.
However I have just realised that in a previous year I had to change motherboard on my desktop PC as my previous went bust. Can I deduct it? or in this case proportion of it, as PC is also used for gaming etc.? How to justify what proportion. Also I paid for it 45.37 with VAT (37.81 without VAT). So which amount I calculate it from? final amount paid or the amount before VAT was added?
Thanks

eldaniel

Also if I deduct the cost of something, do I count the postage paid on it or just the value of the actual item? Thanks

paddyrg

Be VERY careful - HMRC may disagree with your deduction, and then you go on the list for a thorough investigation.

eldaniel

Could you please explain in some more details paddyrg? Sorry, I am not very experienced with it and not sure what I can / can't deduct. How would HMRC justify it especially with someone who earns few hundreds pounds a year extra. To be honest I regret that I even started declaring that. Most people probably don't bother. As I started I have to continue, so I want to make it right, not to have any problems later.

jacques_chirac

Neither of the items are exclusively for your employment and hence not tax deductible.

rao_2

It's very complicated with tax deductions. You have to calculate what percentage of the device/whatever is actually used for work. I knew someone who worked out what percentage of their flat they used for work as a self-employed person so they could deduct part of their flat rent/expenses.
http://taxaid.org.uk/situations/self-employed/use-of-home-as-office
But they were earning enough each year to pay an accountant to help them work it all out.

If anyone wants to delve into tax deductions I'd strongly reccomend to them that at that point they should be seeking help from an accountant about what is and isn't and how much is and isn't valid for tax deductions. Personally I'm small-time so when doing my annual tax return as self-employed I just avoid that barrel of snakes heh...

MysteryMe

Apportion the amount and claim on the business element. As long as the tax man can see you have taken an amount off for private use you'll be OK.

eldaniel

jacques_chirac wrote: »

Neither of the items are exclusively for your employment and hence not tax deductible.

But I have heard you can deduct proportion of expenses for electricity/internet etc. if you do it in your home, and these things (electricity etc.) are obviously not solely used for business.

antrobus

eldaniel wrote: »

..... If I purchased a tablet purely to be able to do surveys on the go, can I deduct it from my income from self employment? ....

Yes, but the cost goes in a different box on the SA return. Box 22 Annual Investment Allowance.

eldaniel wrote: »

Also if I deduct the cost of something, do I count the postage paid on it or just the value of the actual item? Thanks

You include the cost of postage.

eldaniel wrote: »

It would be a lie if I said that no, as with even PC at work people often using it for other purposes, so sometimes I go on facebook or check something on the web, but the main purpose for buying it was to be able to do the surveys online on the go....

You could probably 'get away' with claiming 100% of the cost, but the normal thing to do estimate the private use element (10%, 20% whatever) and only claim for the business use.

jacques_chirac wrote: »

Neither of the items are exclusively for your employment and hence not tax deductible.

OP is not employed. OP is self-employed.

eldaniel wrote: »

But I have heard you can deduct proportion of expenses for electricity/internet etc. if you do it in your home, and these things (electricity etc.) are obviously not solely used for business.

You could certainly claim £4 per week for 'business use of home' without much trouble. Plus you could claim a proportion of proportion of the cost of internet access.