Allowable Expenses

[mattpete]

1 use of home as office

2 telephone

3 printing postage stationary

4 insurance business

5 insurance for loans

6 sundry exspenses

7 ppe

8 small tools

9 subscriptions

10 motor exspense

11 travel & subsistence

12 advertising

13 loan interest

14 bank charges

15 accountancy

depreciation of fixtures and fittings / motor vehicles

 

thats a list of claims of expenses my account uses 24 grand down to a tax bill of £134.36

thats a good amount to pay the fleecing goverment

[armchairarborist]

subsistance means £5 everyday for sandwiches etc, taxman wrote to me a couple of years ago to let me know i was putting through a lot of car maintainance.. thats cos i was doing a lot of car maintainance (parts etc) it would have been more if id paid someone else to do it-idiots. then my accountant tells me he wants to adjust figures like put phonebill up and fuel/sandwiches down, so i wouldnt get investigated.. id rather the books were right if im investigated thanks

[turbull]

after june any persons doing book keeping . must be a registered with the inland revenue. and must be isb qualified .

[Albedo]

Dean , I was just wondering how I might be of help as I think its a fair enough question.

 

I wonder how proactive are you in the process?

 

Do you hand the accountant a big box of receipts or do you sort them out first.

 

I go thru my receipts every 2 weeks or so and put them into columns on a spreadsheet for fuel, van maintenance, stationary etc.

 

This way you have a running total of your expenses against income and know where you stand in advance.

 

I don't claim for anything that isn't obvious, which is your actual question, but thought you might find this approach helpful. You don't have to know much about spreadsheets, it just adds up the columns for you with the autosum button.

 

This could reduce your accountancy fees too. I don't use one myself and just submit the numbers from my spreadsheet on my tax return

[Ian H]

1 use of home as office

2 telephone

3 printing postage stationary

4 insurance business

5 insurance for loans

6 sundry exspenses

7 ppe

8 small tools

9 subscriptions

10 motor exspense

11 travel & subsistence

12 advertising

13 loan interest

14 bank charges

15 accountancy

depreciation of fixtures and fittings / motor vehicles

 

thats a list of claims of expenses my account uses 24 grand down to a tax bill of £134.36

thats a good amount to pay the fleecing goverment

 

Agreed plus can also claim allowance if you use same mobile phone for work/private, all leccy/heating/home phone etc related to 'home office', also wife doing admin/cleaning etc all allowable.

 

Also depends on self employed status, if you're a sole trader then net profit is taxed, so gotta bring profit down by any means, if you go incorporated/ltd company you can pay salary as dividend which makes it tax free or summit, and also vat registration allows claim back on all vat related purchases but you definately need an accountant who's prepared to work to beat the system-it's a minefield:confused1:

 

Does feel like the harder you work the more you give away.

Good luck mate:thumbup1:

[renewablejohn]

1 use of home as office

2 telephone

3 printing postage stationary

4 insurance business

5 insurance for loans

6 sundry exspenses

7 ppe

8 small tools

9 subscriptions

10 motor exspense

11 travel & subsistence

12 advertising

13 loan interest

14 bank charges

15 accountancy

depreciation of fixtures and fittings / motor vehicles

 

thats a list of claims of expenses my account uses 24 grand down to a tax bill of £134.36

thats a good amount to pay the fleecing goverment

 

Just be careful with the claim for use as home as office as the taxman could come after you when you sell your house for the tax on the capital gain of the business element.

[Ian H]

Just be careful with the claim for use as home as office as the taxman could come after you when you sell your house for the tax on the capital gain of the business element.

 

Seems like they get you every which way:cursing:

[arbclimber]

1 use of home as office

2 telephone

3 printing postage stationary

4 insurance business

5 insurance for loans

6 sundry exspenses

7 ppe

8 small tools

9 subscriptions

10 motor exspense

11 travel & subsistence

12 advertising

13 loan interest

14 bank charges

15 accountancy

depreciation of fixtures and fittings / motor vehicles

 

thats a list of claims of expenses my account uses 24 grand down to a tax bill of £134.36

thats a good amount to pay the fleecing goverment

 

You can offset all these things against taxable profit as they are justifiable business expenses.

Profit = turnover - expenses.

 

If you dont pay much tax, you aren't making much money. Doesn't matter how clever your accountant is, he claims for what is allowed under the rules.

As someone says, the only way to pay no tax is to make no money.

 

Dean, if your accountant isn't making the best of allowable expenses, shout at him or get a better accountant. Although if you need to shout at him to tell him what to do, get a new one anyway.

 

Ian, you cant pay salary as a dividend.

[Ian H]

[

 

Ian, you cant pay salary as a dividend.

 

Yep you're right, I've just checked, you have to pay yourself say minimum wage(minimal tax) then you can pay dividend as 'top up' even if calculated monthly(based on projected profit) then it's tax free, does that make more sense!!?

[Quickthorn]

after june any persons doing book keeping . must be a registered with the inland revenue. and must be isb qualified .

 

I think you mean ICB qualified. Anyway, do you have any evidence for this? I can't find anything that says this.

 

Dean, the best thing you could do would be to go the source of information that HMRC use - their Staff manuals. The one you want for this is the Business Income Manual. In that, you'll find the advice they give their staff on how to judge various claims, etc. The section BIM4000 will probably be the most use, and it's probably what you and others are paying your accountant to flick through.