Self Employed .. What Can I Claim As Expenses?

If you're self-employed, you will have various running costs. Some of these expenses you can deduct on your tax return as allowable expenses.

Allowable expenses do not include money taken from your business to pay for any private purchases.

If you run your own limited company then the rules for expenses and business costs are worked out differently, below is a list outlining the allowable expenses and capital allowances you can claim back.

For more information about self-employed tax returns contact Genius today on 03303350400

Expenses that you can claim

office costs, for example, stationery or phone bills
travel costs, for example, fuel, parking, train or bus fares
clothing expenses, for example, uniforms
staff costs, for example, salaries or subcontractor costs
things you buy to sell on, for example, stock or raw materials
financial costs, for example, insurance or bank charges
costs of your business premises, for example, heating, lighting, business rates
advertising or marketing, for example, website costs
training courses related to your business, for example, refresher courses

Capital allowances you can claim

If you use the traditional accounting method you can claim capital allowances when you buy something you keep to use in your business.

equipment
machinery
business vehicles, for example cars, vans, lorries

If you use the cash basis accounting method and purchase a car for business use, you can claim this as a capital allowance. However, all other items should be claimed as allowable expenses as outine above.

If something is used for both business and personal reasons

You can only claim allowable expenses against the use for business costs.

Example: Your mobile phone bill for the year totals £200. Of this £ 70 is for business calls only. You can therefore claim £70 for business expenses.

If you work from home

You may be able to claim part of the costs for any of the below as business costs:

heating
electricity
Council Tax
mortgage interest or rent
internet and telephone use

A reasonable method for dividing the costs for business use in the home will need to be used, for example by the number of rooms used for business or the amount of time you spend working from home.