Can I claim the cost of a pet if I use it in my business?!

sonypc100

Hi
I'm a sole trader and I sell pet products, I use my own dog as a model for my promo material and online marketing material etc and then a few times a year (in non CV19 times) my dog would accompany me to Country Fairs etc to model my products on my stand.

Could any of the below be put through my books?
Initial dog purchase?
Dog food?
Vet bills?
Insurance?

Thanks

01afraser4

Someone may be more clued up on this than myself but I would imagine that they would fail the 'Wholly and Exclusively' test.
The costs you have outlined above, were they incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of your trade? If we look at them individually:

Initial Dog Purchase - Did you purchase the dog with the sole intention of being used as a business asset?
Dog Food - You would incur this cost regardless if the dog was involved in the business or not
Vet bills - Are they connected in any way to carrying out your trade?
Insurance - Are the insurance premiums any higher than you would normally pay if your dog wasn't involved in the business?

My guess is that none of these would be considered viable business expenses but I could be wrong so please someone with more knowledge than me feel free to say otherwise.

oldbikebloke

as a sole trader you know the rules: wholly and exclusively business use
so what % of your dog meets that criteria?
It won't be much 

sonypc100

Thanks for the comments, I wasn't sure hence why I asked, I guess I am thinking on the lines that if you use a room in your house as an office then you can claim some of that even though you don't purchase the house wholly and exclusively for business use.

nick74

Realistically though how do you apportion a dog between business and private use? Count the number of tail wags to customers versus tail wags to family and friends?!

Jeremy535897

It's a very good question. There is a lot of case law around the subject, and one of the most famous was the case of a barrister who tried to claim the cost of professional clothes, on the grounds that she could not appear in Court without them. She lost her case on the grounds that the clothes had two purposes (known as "duality of purpose"), decency/warmth and professional, and therefore no deduction was allowed. Uniforms are allowed though. It shows how narrow the distinction is.

Perhaps the easiest way of looking at it, which works in most cases, is that you can claim for something part business, part private, where the expense can be divided. If you heat part of your home with electricity, some distinct kwh heat the room while you are working, and some heat the lounge when you are relaxing. It used to be the case, for example, that you could not claim line rental for a landline, as this was simply required for both business and private calls, but you could claim the business proportion of the calls themselves, on the basis that calls typically are either business or private. I think the reality nowadays is a bit more relaxed, but that was the case.

So can a dog be "divided" in this way? Looking at practical cases:

• HMRC will normally accept that the expenses of a guard dog that guards business premises full time are allowable, but can be expected to ask whether the dog guards the premises by night, for example, but is a pet by day, in which case part of the expenses would be disallowed
• HMRC may accept that part of the costs of a guide dog that the owner needs to do their work, or a farmer's working sheepdog, are allowable, or even a ratting terrier or mouse catching cat

In your case, I suspect that the main problem you face is the proportion of the dog's life that is spent on your business might be rather small, compared with a guard dog that is guarding the premises day in, day out. The business proportion of the cost of the dog qualifies for capital allowances as plant. See https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/capital-allowances-manual/ca21220

Petriix

I think it would be entirely reasonable to claim a tiny portion of the dog's purchase price. Simply calculate the proportion of the time it is working for the business. You could probably also argue for any dog food expenses while travelling for work, but not meals it has at home. If there are also any vet bills such as vaccinations that are required for the work events that wouldn't be needed for a solely domestic pet then those could be claimed too.

oldbikebloke

sonypc100 said:

Thanks for the comments, I wasn't sure hence why I asked, I guess I am thinking on the lines that if you use a room in your house as an office then you can claim some of that even though you don't purchase the house wholly and exclusively for business use.

yes in principle you are correct, but "a few times per year" equates to how many hours (it won't be 24 hours per day)
say 3 shows at 6 hours per show = 18/8760 = 0.095 % of costs are business 
furthermore, what evidence do you have that the dog was "working" for all those 6 hours, rather than you just took your pet with you and he spent only 15 minutes on "show"

sonypc100

Thanks all. On balance and from your responses I think it's not worth doing, it was just one of those thoughts that you have and think it's worth exploring.

sheramber

As an aside does your pet insurance cover if used for a business or trade.  Most specifically exclude it.