Working from Home

Terry_D

I work from home 3-5 days a week. I claim 1/8th of my Council Tax, Electric and Gas for the tax year I'm claiming for (using rules stated earlier). The tax office asked whether I wanted to claim for earlier years so I dug out all my bills for the previous 4 years and sent them the details and I got a rebate against unpaid tax for earlier years. My 1/8th of bills came to about £300 last year so even at 40% tax, that's £ 180 in my pocker thank you very much!

I think it depends on your tax inspector. Ring them up and explain the situation and they will tell you what you can claim for - they're not all bad! :j

nottoogreatwithmoney

tinalives wrote:

That's a really good question - I know there's stuff out there, but I've never actually seen a job like that advertised.

Hello tinalives - thanks for responding anyway

ahorrando

I decided to submit my tax return online to see what happends, basically:
Your salary is an income, the rent, etc are an expense deducted from your income and then they also reduce your £4.5K allowance....what's left is the taxable income and if you PAYE too much they give you a refund...I'm looking at less of what I was expecting..but more than before.... :beer:

cosyc

I am sure I have read somewhere there is a fixed amount you can claim from your employer tax free if you are an employee and work from home, would this work the other way round so you could claim this as an expense?

I am sure i was told you can only claim a proportion of your running costs if you are self employed!

kazd

Terry_D wrote:

I work from home 3-5 days a week. I claim 1/8th of my Council Tax, Electric and Gas for the tax year I'm claiming for (using rules stated earlier). The tax office asked whether I wanted to claim for earlier years so I dug out all my bills for the previous 4 years and sent them the details and I got a rebate against unpaid tax for earlier years. My 1/8th of bills came to about £300 last year so even at 40% tax, that's £ 180 in my pocker thank you very much!

I think it depends on your tax inspector. Ring them up and explain the situation and they will tell you what you can claim for - they're not all bad! :j

This is very interesting, when we had the tax man round just before I started my business I was told that I couldn't claim for electric etc as I would be using it anyway as its my home. However, for about 20 weeks a year my dining room is soley(sp?) given over as a chocolate room, chairs are shoved up in the loft. Table moved over and covered with a protective cover and shelving is put up all around the room. In addition the study is a no go area, kids are not allowed in it because of my paperwork etc.

Currently I only claim for a portion of my telephone bill, do you think I could claim something for the use of the dining room.

Thanks

Terry_D

kazd wrote:

This is very interesting, when we had the tax man round just before I started my business I was told that I couldn't claim for electric etc as I would be using it anyway as its my home. However, for about 20 weeks a year my dining room is soley(sp?) given over as a chocolate room, chairs are shoved up in the loft. Table moved over and covered with a protective cover and shelving is put up all around the room. In addition the study is a no go area, kids are not allowed in it because of my paperwork etc.

Currently I only claim for a portion of my telephone bill, do you think I could claim something for the use of the dining room.

Thanks

Not sure - you seem to be running a business from home whereas I am an employee who uses one room part time working a computer, sending emails etc. Suggest you call the tax office and ask. Also, make sure you tell your house insurer as it may affect your premiums - I told mine, but as all my equipment is covered by my employer they said that was OK

billywhizz

Coming in to this late but if you DO work from home for an Employer who specifies it in their contract with you then there is a calculator here which will tell you the figure to put into your tax return. Alternatively if you don't file tax retruns then write to the IR at the beginning of each tax year and get them to adjust your Tax Code accordingly.

http://www.taxbuddies.com/calcs.php

It's worked for me for the last 3 years without any problems.

kazd

Terry_D wrote:

Not sure - you seem to be running a business from home whereas I am an employee who uses one room part time working a computer, sending emails etc. Suggest you call the tax office and ask. Also, make sure you tell your house insurer as it may affect your premiums - I told mine, but as all my equipment is covered by my employer they said that was OK

I don't have any equipment apart from some plastic shelving, the choc comes in and goes out within a couple of days. Its basically party plan except I sell loads more choc than I ever did with tupperware.

NeilW

I don't have any equipment apart from some plastic shelving, the choc comes in and goes out within a couple of days.

If you turnover a part of your house to the business for a period of time and you are operating as a sole trader, then you can claim a proportion of the cost in direct relation to the usage.

But it won't be a lot from the looks of it if you only use it for two days a year.

NeilW

sertav

I've just started my own business (Ltd co.) and I work from home.

Booked an appointment with a 'Business Advisor' from my local Revenue's Business Support Team to clarify a few things and this was one of them.

Basicaly, the guidance I got from him was as follows:

I live in a 1-bedroomed flat with a kitchen, bathroom, lounge and... errrr... one bedroom. Ignore the first two. My 'office' occupies about half of the loung area, so I'm using a quarter of my 'eligible' space (bedroom + lounge).

As a result, I should be able to claim 25% of my rent, council tax, household insurance and leccy bills but *not* from the water rates.

On fixed line, mobile and broadband costs I should apply the same percentage but should be able to claim as much as 90% *if* it can be properly justified.

Also, MAJOR risk to assign a whole room for business purposes. It may well have insurance and CGT implications but, above all, could well make you liable for business rates. Check with your local authority asap!

[edit] aahhhhhhh... Virtual PA's... that brings up loads of memories from my teleworking days! :cool: if you have secretarial experience it's an excellent option. have a look at http://allianceofukvirtualassistants.co.uk/