Sole trader use of home

Sole trader use of home

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I used to claim £3 per week for clients who did the admin at home.  Probably only a few hours per week if that.  What do you do now?  I've not been claiming anything but am I missing something?  Seems disproportionate to claim more than say £150 for basic record keeping and not worth the hassle of keeping all household bills and working out a small percentage.

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By HUGH W DUNLOP
06th Oct 2014 18:44

Sole trader use of home

As an acountant working from home I have one room as a dedicated office, and I claim one fifth of all household expenses. I have several clients who also have a room or rooms as dedicated workrooms and claim accordingly. But beware of having only one piece of non business goods in these rooms as it has been decided that they are not then dedicated.

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Scalloway Castle
By scalloway
06th Oct 2014 18:55

Simplified Expenses

Under Simplified Expenses HMRC have a set sum depending on the number of hours you work at home.

https://www.gov.uk/simpler-income-tax-simplified-expenses/working-from-home

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By Steve Kesby
07th Oct 2014 10:38

I'd suggest...

... claiming the greater of:

£4 per week,the simplified expenses amount (as above), orthe room/use amount that Hugh alludes to.

You should be making the maximum tenable claim.

I'd recommend against having a any space being used exclusively for business use though, because the gain attributable to that area will not then be eligible for PPR, if and when the client sells.

The reason for the £4 per week above, is because the examples in HMRC's guidance at BIM47825, apparently accept a minimum amount of £2 per week, where there is some use.

That guidance was issued when HMRC's automatically accepted rate for employees working at home was £2 per week.

Since that rate is now £4 per week, I'd import the £4 per week figure into BIM47825.

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