Ltd company equipment purchase- advice

motherofpugs666

Hi everyone , 
Long time lurker first time poster here, hopefully it's OK to ask for some advice here. I have recently started a Ltd company as a side business, which I intend to run along side my full time job- hopefully planning to go full time as and when I have built up enough business (but not in a rush). I am the sole director/PSC and will not be employing anyone else. I do not intend to register for VAT as I will not be above the VAT threshold. I have opened a business account but this is a £0 balance as I have not started trading yet. I have already paid for some (minor) set up costs from my personal account and have simply kept invoices and clear records so I can reimburse myself once the company starts trading and making profit (I am using 'crunch' free software to keep records at the moment). I need to make a large purchase (equipment, 20k) which will be used strictly for business use only and will be using money from my personal savings to fund this. My question is would it be better to transfer the money into the business account as a directors loan and make the purchase from the Ltd company account (I gather I can claim corporate tax relief via AIA against the full cost if I do this). Or would it be better to purchase the equipment myself and retain ownership? It seems making the purchase through the company would be most sensible but as it is a large investment (for me anyway) I wanted to make sure I am not missing any potential pitfalls?
Secondary question is whether for future small purchases (now that I have the business acct up and running) am I better off loaning money from my personal account to make purchases direct from the company- is it clearer for record keeping etc doing it this way? Or doesn't it matter as long as records are kept? (obviously this is just until the company makes some money). 
PS: I am planning on engaging an accountant once I am trading a significant amount but at the moment seems an unnecessary cost as I am not up and running yet (and this is the only Q I haven't been able to work out on my own so far). 

Thanks for reading, any advice would be appreciated!

jonesMUFCforever

My advice ask your accountant.
This is too complex for a bunch of amateurs on a public forum.

Savvy_Sue

jonesMUFCforever said:

My advice ask your accountant.
This is too complex for a bunch of amateurs on a public forum.

I agree with this (and I am not an accountant), but the cost of getting it wrong is likely to far outweigh the cost of at least an initial consultation. 

CKhalvashi

You should be able to have these deducted from profits using AIA, and depreciate from the accounts over the expected life of the equipment.

For things like pens (I buy mine in Tesco), I don't bother claiming them. I tend to find the cost of running expenses through accounts is around the £5 mark (so £10 of photocopying I will run through expenses, £5 I may not). If something is for work use, then in general it's tax deductible.

I second speaking to an accountant, as an initial consultation will be cheaper than potentially messing up a £4k tax relief by getting it wrong.

motherofpugs666

OK, thanks everyone for the advice, it is a bit of a mine field starting out as I am new to all of this and just going on info I can find on direct GOV and similar sites. Didn't want to feel silly/waste my money asking an accountant if it was a cut and dried simple answer. I will look to speak to an accountant before I make the purchase, I agree a 4k tax relief is definitely not something I can afford to muck up for the sake of saving the cost of a consult fee.