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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If you have a look back over the last month or so, very similar questions have been asked.
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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.
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"
If there is no online access to your council tax bill you must have received it on paper through the post. Where is it?