Direct Debit - no receipts

Direct Debit - no receipts

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Hi,

I am not an accountant I am here to ask some basic questions I need to know for my first self assessment.

I want to claim for a proportion of valid use of home expenses as out of pocket expenses.

These expenses are paid through personal bank account and via direct debit.

Take for example the gas bill, £90 is paid every month via direct debit.

I can calculate a proportion and add as out-of-pocket expense, but there are no paper bills / receipts to attach or file.

The only proof of payment I have is my personal bank statement, where it is listed as for example: Date SCOTTISHPOWER XXXX £90

Question: Is items in a bank statement ok as proof for record keeping when there are no other receipts?

As explained above direct debit doesn't give any options.

Related to this question would be, would I have to add one item in the out-of-pocket expenses for every months proportions of use of home, or can I group for example the home insurance cost into a single item instead of 12 individual items?

Replies (11)

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By duncanedwards
20th Sep 2014 16:20

If you have a look back over the last month or so, very similar questions have been asked.

The search facility isn't good but if you read the subject titles it should be obvious what you are looking for.

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By sundstedt
20th Sep 2014 17:15

Hi Duncan I've looked at many titles now but I can't find the answers to my questions. I will keep looking but if you have a link please share.

Thanks

Anders

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By paulwakefield1
22nd Sep 2014 08:38

Why not

download the bills?

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By sundstedt
22nd Sep 2014 09:02

How? Do you mean from company websites?

They would typically have a total for the year rather than individual payments.

I.e. I would not get one receipt/bill per month.

What I am looking for is to have some receipt to attach to each monthly expense claim in the accounting software, so I don't know how I would get that from a direct debit situation.

All that I need really is a confirmation that bank statement transactions are a valid receipt.

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By paulwakefield1
22nd Sep 2014 09:16

Well typically

they would have quarterly bills. These will give you the actual costs you are incurring subject to estimated readings and will give you proper invoices and you can take a proper proportion of those. The direct debit is merely a payment towards those costs which, though they should be in line with the actual costs, can be wildly out.

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By emanresu
22nd Sep 2014 15:05

Your receipt

is your bill from Scottish Power - either in paper format, if that is how you receive it, or as a .pdf downloaded from Scottish Power's website.  They also offer an up-to-date statement of account online under "My Balance and Consumption"

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By sundstedt
23rd Sep 2014 09:45

Thank you,

I did find these online for both Scottish Power and SKY Phone yesterday which is just like you have mentioned so thanks for confirming this.

As a sole trader I would have preferred if I could have bills sent out each month for all companies so I could just pop that in my filing system and scan a copy for online accounting software attachment, but I guess online access to bills are fairly easy as well, just a little more tedious :)

Thanks again

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By sundstedt
23rd Sep 2014 09:47

What about Council Tax then through direct debit. I don't think they have online access to the bills like the Power companies and phone companies have?

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By johngroganjga
24th Sep 2014 10:41

If there is no online access to your council tax bill you must have received it on paper through the post.  Where is it?

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By sundstedt
24th Sep 2014 10:18

Yes that's true but I recall it was more saying "you will pay XXX per month for the months YYY" while I was more looking for some individual bills if you see what I mean.

Perhaps one must just accept a single bill and attach the same bill to every item in the expenses claims but I would prefer monthly and separate bills or receipts if you see what I mean.

Thanks

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By sundstedt
24th Sep 2014 10:27

Finally rather than having to let's say add 12 individual Council Tax 'use of home' proportional items in the accounting software attaching the same scanned bill every time, is it not acceptable to just group all for that tax year into one item instead in out-of-pocket expenses?

Ideally I would even like to add all use of home claims into a single monthly amount if that is acceptable. Let's say council tax + phone + broadband (based on usage) + power usage.

Same with gas/electricity they are paid together as one amount in direct debit so I would like to have them as a single item.

Thanks

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