No receipts - can I claim expenses?

wildthingsUK

Hi everyone,
I have been trading on eBay for a few months now and it has got to the point where I need to register as a Sole Trader and self-assess. At first, I was just 'trying it out' so I haven't kept receipts for a few large items I purchased, like a printer and some storage units. I do have these items on my bank statement though. Will this be sufficient if I was checked on by HMRC? Otherwise, I'm going to end up paying way more tax than needed as the culmination of these few items pretty much offsets my profits!
Any advice would be appreciated!

00ec25

you can of course chance it, but technically you certainly should have receipts to support what you purchased. Something like a printer may also not be wholly and exclusively business use so may need to be apportioned between business and personal use.

do you have receipts for the items you purchased in order to sell given you are trading?

wildthingsUK

All my purchases of stock and sales are online so I have a record of those, and I keep track of my incomings and outgoings through a spreadsheet.
So, would a transaction on a bank statement not be enough proof of purchase for any other items?

00ec25

the only thing a bank statement does is show you paid £x to person Y

it does not show what you purchased and therefore does not "prove" either the item's cost price (and thus your taxable profit) or that it is wholly and exclusively a business related purchase.

purchase invoices/receipts are required for a reason!

Pennywise

wildthingsUK wrote: »

All my purchases of stock and sales are online so I have a record of those, and I keep track of my incomings and outgoings through a spreadsheet.
So, would a transaction on a bank statement not be enough proof of purchase for any other items?

A bank statement entry only proves you bought "something". It doesn't prove what you bought. So it would be difficult to use it as evidence of a legitimate business purchase. Probably OK for things that have obviously been bought, i.e. say if you've bought a printer, you physically have it so a payment to Currys of £75 would probably be acceptable if that kind of printer usually cost that kind of money. But for things that could potentially be private, or where you don't have any other evidence of purchase, then probably not.

jessex1990

Go to the customer service desk at the shop where you bought them armed with the time, date and amount and they might be able to print off duplicate receipts for you. Thats how they deal with returns for people who mislaid their receipts.