Self employed expenses UC MS office software & mobile phone

kazzyb123

Following on from my previous thread where our claim will end. I’ve looked at last months expenses and my partner has included MS office yearly subscription of £79.99. Can he actually claim this? If he can’t and I change my amounts for last month to remove this does this mean the claim won’t close?

If my income of ESA £598.87 is taken off the AER for couples (£1437) that leaves £838.13 which I assume is the amount he has fallen below for the months in a row.
if I remove the 79.99 the monthly income for him would be 848.69 which is above the AET figure for that month so in theory the claim could continue.
would I have any chance of them saying yes if I did this? 

Thanks.

NedS

As it is a couple claim, it is the couple AET rate (£1437) of earnings that must be met when considering ongoing entitlement to transitional protection. So in this case, no, as earnings do not meet the threshold so entitlement to transitional protection will end.

Spoonie_Turtle

NedS said:

As it is a couple claim, it is the couple AET rate (£1437) of earnings that must be met when considering ongoing entitlement to transitional protection. So in this case, no, as earnings do not meet the threshold so entitlement to transitional protection will end.

OP did your (partner's) earnings exceed this when you started your UC claim?

kazzyb123

@Spoonie_Turtle  
yes they did. He had two big payments that came in and that particular company didn’t take the tax off before paying him , something else he has no control over ! He will probably get a tax bill to cover it at the end of the year but it looks like the claim will be closed before then

kazzyb123

@NedS
my ESA is £598.87. His earnings last month if he shouldn’t have claimed for the software and I can change that would have been 848.69 which with mine adds up to 1447.66 which is above the AET of £1437. Or does the AET not include my ESA amount? 
In this case would they let me change the expenses for last month if he can’t claim for the software? Or the previous month if he can’t claim for the whole mobile phone which I’m sure he can’t.
hope that make sense I’m confused and it’s very late.

poppy12345

Your ESA is not included in the AET because it's not treated as earnings, it's "other" income. 

huckster

He can add software as business expense for the self employment reporting, if the software has only been purchased because he needs it for business uses. Same for mobile phone, if it was bought for business use.