New roof

angelakushnerlet_by

I am a childminder doing my business from the conservatory I had a tiled roof put on in December as it was cold in winter and boiling in summer for the children can I put this to the accounts my account says no because I am improving my home I'd this true 

maisie_cat

Is the conservatory used wholly and exclusively for your business and do you pay business rates for it?

angelakushnerlet_by

It is used for childminding only no I dont pay business rates x 

Jeremy535897

It is not unheard of, but quite unusual for part of a home to be subject to business rates, and is not of itself a requirement to claim tax relief. As your accountant said, the problem is that the tiled roof is clearly an improvement, rather than a repair, so does not qualify for income tax relief even if the conservatory is wholly used for business purposes.

You should be aware that if you claim that your conservatory is used exclusively for business, you will not qualify for main residence relief on a sale of your house to the extent that the gain is attributable to the conservatory. It is very rare that there is no private use at all.

badmemory

Is a tiled roof on a conservatory actually an improvement?   Surely the whole point of one is that the sun comes in.  Tiling it would mean that the sun didn't come in & therefore is not an improvement!

Jeremy535897

badmemory said:

Is a tiled roof on a conservatory actually an improvement?   Surely the whole point of one is that the sun comes in.  Tiling it would mean that the sun didn't come in & therefore is not an improvement!

It is more about whether you have replaced like with like, or changed something (revenue versus capital). As most people would only change things for the better, the shorthand is "improvement" versus "repair". An old example of improvement was changing single glazed windows to double glazing. The old windows might have been wood, and the new ones plastic, which some people might not regard as an improvement, but tax law would.

01afraser4

Jeremy535897 said:

badmemory said:

Is a tiled roof on a conservatory actually an improvement?   Surely the whole point of one is that the sun comes in.  Tiling it would mean that the sun didn't come in & therefore is not an improvement!

It is more about whether you have replaced like with like, or changed something (revenue versus capital). As most people would only change things for the better, the shorthand is "improvement" versus "repair". An old example of improvement was changing single glazed windows to double glazing. The old windows might have been wood, and the new ones plastic, which some people might not regard as an improvement, but tax law would.

The example of single glazed > double glazed may have been considered an improvement at one point. Now, however, it certainly would be allowable as revenue expenditure given that double glazing is considered the modern day equivalent.

BIM46925 uses this very example to explain why it would now be an allowable expense.
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/business-income-manual/bim46925

Apologies if I have picked you up wrong and this is not what you meant. 

Jeremy535897

01afraser4 said:

Jeremy535897 said:

badmemory said:

Is a tiled roof on a conservatory actually an improvement?   Surely the whole point of one is that the sun comes in.  Tiling it would mean that the sun didn't come in & therefore is not an improvement!

It is more about whether you have replaced like with like, or changed something (revenue versus capital). As most people would only change things for the better, the shorthand is "improvement" versus "repair". An old example of improvement was changing single glazed windows to double glazing. The old windows might have been wood, and the new ones plastic, which some people might not regard as an improvement, but tax law would.

The example of single glazed > double glazed may have been considered an improvement at one point. Now, however, it certainly would be allowable as revenue expenditure given that double glazing is considered the modern day equivalent.

BIM46925 uses this very example to explain why it would now be an allowable expense.
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/business-income-manual/bim46925

Apologies if I have picked you up wrong and this is not what you meant. 

That's why I said it was an old example (it was from memory), but I should have picked a better one. Whether the principle of changing technology stretches to OP's tiling the conservatory roof is very doubtful though.