Expenses for the self-employed

**nattynetty** · 18-06-2008 01:10 PM

It appears the tax-man is becoming more lenient about what you can claim as 'reasonable' expenses for working from home. This link here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/working_lunch/7459639.stm explains it really well and it appears you can now claim a percentage of your mortgage interest and council tax - typically just after I stopped working from home but it could help some of you to reduce your tax bills

**charlotte** · 18-06-2008 04:27 PM

That is great, thank you for sharing it with us.

**Chris W** · 18-06-2008 06:08 PM

Thanks for pointing that out, it is worth knowing about.

**swirlyarts** · 19-06-2008 09:40 AM

Ooh - I'll have a look and forward it on to Matt who can chat to the accountant about it!

**candles by lisa** · 19-06-2008 09:46 AM

Excellent off to have a little nosey. Thanks Natty.

Lisa

**cloudhopping** · 19-06-2008 07:45 PM

A very useful link! Thanks for posting!

**lauraj** · 19-06-2008 08:07 PM

User is banned, content is deleted automatically.

**MrSwirl** · 20-06-2008 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by lauraj

how odd, i thought it had been like that for years. Ive been putting c/tax against the biz for 4 years now as directed by accountant. And heating/leccy etc bills.

It's been allowed, you're right, but they have made it clearer about how you can claim for different things. Also, there has always been a precedent that if you claim too much, then HMRC could argue that your home is actually a "business premises". If that's the case then you would have to pay CGT on the increase in value of the property if you sold up, plus business rates.

The new guidance makes it clearer about what you need to do to reduce the chances of HMRC ruling that way.

**ickle pickle** · 21-06-2008 10:31 AM

Thanks for claryfying that Mr Swirl

I knew about this but didn't think it was worth it beause of the business rates charges. This is great news, will have to investigate some more. Thanks for letting us know