can I claim

[sunrise]

I'm pretty sure I know the answer but no harm in asking lol
last April ( 2010 ) for my birthday my lovely family bought me a netbook , today while tiding up I found the receipt , my first thought was oh I could claim for this when I fill in my tax return as I use it for checking emails etc for our card business but when I looked at the receipt its dated the 28th March 2010 which means I should have claimed for it last year but obviously I didn't get it until my birthday in April
is it too late to claim anything on my tax return ???

[greannancrafts]

I would say yes, as you haven't done last years tax return yet?


Jane

[sunrise]

last year the tax return I would have filled in would have been from 6th April 2009 - 5th April 2010 but the net book was bought in March 2010 so should have been put on that one ??? or am I being stupid lol

[bodrighy]

Worth giving the tax office ring I'd have thought. We can fill out tax returns in before the closing date so it is feasible that items bought between submission time and the closing date could go onto the next one. Do you earn more than the allowed income anyway? if not it wouldn't make any difference anyway would it? Play safe and check with them though.

Pete

[sunrise]

I earn more than the personal allowance in my main job , the cards are just a sideline so I have to pay tax on everything :(

[nattynetty]

I've been known to put things bought right at the end of March onto the following tax year's accounts, especially if the invoice hasn't arrived in time from the supplier or I've simply forgotten about a receipt. I'm guessing it's not a huge problem as my accountant has never told me I couldn't do it although he did say I would have to explain it to the taxman if he chose to investigate.

[xavtia]

A similar question was asked in the expenses workshop I did at the tax office. The lady taking it said it is entirely up to you when you put something in you books regardless of when it was bought as long as it is within the last 6 years. I suppose it has something to do with the rule about not putting something through the books until it is sold, which if you're buying and item to sell on is pretty easy but if your making it from lots of differents bit of supplies could get a bit hard. Probably best to check with the Tax Office though.

[loukr]

Can you claim for things that you haven't bought? Sorry, I'm new to the whole tax thing as I'm newly registered, but surely if your family bought it for you, how can you put it down as an expense?

[sunrise]

Can you claim for things that you haven't bought? Sorry, I'm new to the whole tax thing as I'm newly registered, but surely if your family bought it for you, how can you put it down as an expense?

well the tax man doesn't need to know it was a present does he :)

[loukr]

well the tax man doesn't need to know it was a present does he :)

You already know that you can't put it down as an expense as you didn't buy it yourself, so I don't understand why you've publicly asked on an open forum and even posted what you did in the previous message?

[sunrise]

thats why I was asking as I'm fairly new to all this as well and wasn't sure

[sunrise]

the fact that I have the receipt and my husband used the money that we make from the cards to pay for it ( as we make cards together he helps to spend the profits lol ) and I use it to check emails etc I was just wondering if I could claim anything back from it
I know that as I use it for personal use as well I can't claim for the whole amount but anything is better than nothing surely
and in my opening question I've made sure that everyone was aware that it was a present so I wasn't trying to hide anything

[sunrise]

just received this answer from another forum

Yes. Imagine if you were to now start a business from scratch... say a carpenter.... you would almost certainly have many tools already that you had acquired long before you started the business and some of which might well also have been gifts. Yet you need those tools in the business, clearly, and those tools in being used will gradually wear out and are therefore a legitimate cost of doing business. The tool would therefore be brought into the business at the value they were at the start of the business.

Your computer you will have brought into your business immediately you received it and thus it's value can be fairly considered to be the initial purchase price. It doesn't matter who bought it, it is still a tool being used in the business and being worn out by the business.