My friend is solely self employed. She is a caterer. She had a fall in the kitchen and hurt her back. She experienced immense pain but obviously continued working driving etc. whilst waiting to have an operation on her back. She has had to pay for the operation privately. The question is can she claim part or all of the operation cost in her tax return? As she needed the operation to be able to work pain free. She is off for 8weeks and has had to employ staff to cover this time. Your help on this matter is much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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No. She may have needed the operation to work pain free, but presumably she was also in pain when she was not working. Dual purpose = not allowable.
Thank you Tim.
I thought that was the case but just wanted clarification. Yes she was in pain doing all manner of things, driving, sitting, walking, everything really.
It was because the fall happened whilst working that made me question it. Thank you again. I really appreciate it.
I assume that she was unable to recover any costs through her business insurance / employers liability insurance etc??
She has contacted her insurers and is waiting for a response. However as the deadline for ITRs is January, whcih is just around the corner she wanted to know that if her insurance wont cover it, could she claim part or all through her ITR.
If she was going to get the operation anyway, and only paid for it privately to have the op done sooner in order to improve business productivity, you might argue that there is no duality of purpose, as in Parsons:
http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKFTT/TC/2010/TC00421.html
Parsons' argument was that the business would have suffered permanent loss of engagement if he had not been able to return to work quickly, so you are nowhere near on all fours.
The answer is yes, she would of eventually had the op through the NHS in a year or twos time. However as you say, her business was effected, she was having to turn down work, such as private parties etc as she physically could not fulfill the customers requirements due to the pain. Which is why she had it done privately, so that she could return to her business in a fully functional capacity quickly. As the Christmas/Festive period is her busiest time of year, without the Op she would not of been able to fulfill her booked in jobs.
I'd say not. The question is discussed on here quite frequently. If you search you'll see the discussion and case law.
Yes i did find a similar post to which i posted a comment asking this question. To which i was told off for hijacking! Hence why i have posted this separately.
Yes i did find a similar post to which i posted a comment asking this question. To which i was told off for hijacking! Hence why i have posted this separately.
Well said. You should have done what the rest of us do, if we're "unfairly" challenged. Simply say b****r off!
Obviously not wishing to derail your thread here, your response appears to reference a response which is no longer there? Hopefully, not another disadvantage of the revisions to this site? If it is, I'm sure it'll be brushed under the carpet, as the rest of the imperfections have been.
I'm not sure that Parson's is helpful. He was a stunt performer with very specific skills. The caterer has been able to employ staff to keep the business running.
She has employed one lady on a temp basis, which she really cant afford, and is using her savings to fund this extra person and keep her business afloat during the time since the fall to date. The extra staff memeber is just to cover her main contract at a Golf Club. Her other work has all had to be cancelled and no bookings are being taken until she returns. So her business has been significantly effected by this. This is why I decided not to study Tax and proceeded with Accountancy, as there too many ifs and buts in tax and if you get it wrong the penalties can be significant. Which is your help is very much appreciated.
