Dave1980

Afternoon All

Just a couple of questions as my first tax return is looming since becomming self employed.
Exactly what i am entitled to claim back against tax?. Currently i get charged 20% tax from the contractor i am working for but its my belief that i can also claim back some of the following:

• Mileage
• Business Vehicle (car)
• Bridge Tolls/Parking
• Vehicle Running Costs
• Office Costs (e.g rent of office if different to home address)
• Tools/Work Equipment

Can anybody just clarify what sort of percentages the above are and if i am entitled to claim them back.

Hopefully get something decent as i am getting married this year so every penny helps .

Cheers

JAutos

iTrader: (5)

Unless your VAT registered you cant claim a penny back on VAT

Business vehicles depend on Co2 emmissions and are classed as capitol allowances depending on what kind of vehicle it varies. For instance my Impreza is classed as 50/50 on personal and business use so i claim half its cost price back. i paid 4k for it so 2k is my claim and its 10% per year for 10 years. lower emmision cars can be 20% over 5 years.

Tolls and parking 100% claim back as running costs and fuel while its bussiness use obviosly you choose to claim what you think appropriate.

Office costs and tools etc 100% again. If you need anything else just ask

Dave1980

thanks for the advice . the car is 90% business use and i have a whole wad of bridge reciepts and for fuel.
at the moment i dont receive any expenses from my contractor so how do i stand on claiming mileage back?

other than that i have some tools and various bits and bobs to claim.

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

Get yourself a good accountant, ask around at work on who they use. Get all receipts together and go and see one (ideally one that deals in your line of work) Take receipts for everything remotely linked to your job as your accountant will know what to put through and what not to.You will be surprised what you can claim for. You should get a fair bit back in your first year as in theory you should have all the costs of tools etc.

Pm if you want any more info.

JAutos

iTrader: (5)

Be carefull as I tried 4 proffesional accountants before deciding after research i new more about the way i needed to do my return than they did, all told me i couldnt claim for my car etc when i can as is a demo vehicle and covered in advertising. You choose your own personal/business % but you need to be able to prove what you send in if investigated which to be honest is unlikley but you need to make sure you can back up your claims thats all. if its 90% business then you claim 90%. also 90% of running costs fuel etc, car tax and so on.

100% on tools and things which are business only.

Dave1980

sounds interesting, do have receipts for everything so just a case of adding it up really. Car wise i share another car with the mrs so just solely use this one for work most of the time. Always hard to prove though. Although i do 120 miles a day for work so guess that wouldnt be too hard too prove.

will see what figures i can come up with and go from there. cheers guys, i am sure i will pm some of you if i need some advice.

i work in construction though if that helps.

cheers

JAutos

iTrader: (5)

The hard to prove works both ways, Unless they can prove you have falsly filled in the return they cant prove you have done anything wrong. just be honest with it is all i say.

Aaron1978

iTrader: (12)

That's why I said good accountant that deals in CIS tax returns. You need to ask around who other people use. My accountant used to work for the inland revenue and charges me a straight £150. Stay clear of the ones in the back of the paper and ones that charge a percentage as they will not always put things they should through. Make sure you keep ALL your receipts even after you've filed your return.

Jimpreza

Before I had a works van I used to use various vehicles i.e mine mother inlaws etc I used to just keep a mileage log and claim 40p for every mile I did.

JAutos

iTrader: (5)

My accountant said 22p a mile is all they allow.

David Lock

Not sure what you mean by Tax Return Due???

Either your very late for the Jan 31 2011 deadline or got plenty of time before the next deadline at Jan 31 2012.

If this is your first time around and you're not familiar with the black art of Tax Returns then an accountant is recommended or at the very least a bookkeeper.

There are many legitimate expenses you can claim such as repairs to your home computer assuming you use it for business correspondence, stationery supplies, communication costs and a modest sum for use of home as office. Excel is good for recording expenses and organising into different categories, you only need to know the basics.

Keep records of everything and have a separate business account. By law you should keep records for 6 years.

Don't be afraid of phoning taxman for advice say on claiming for mileage/cars etc as they can be almost human being-like at times

dl

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Doesn't it depend on the type of vehicle? I thought the approved rate was 40p a mile for any car with a halfway decent engine, and had been for years.

I'm in a similar position - became self-employed 1 day a week at the end of last year, and I've spent a fair bit on capital equipment as well as insurance and other services. This year I'll probably make a small loss overall on this work.

I'm still employed 4 days a week and paying tax and NI through PAYE, and the figures for this normally work out OK with little or no net tax overpayment or underpayment.

Is there an easy way to work out roughly how much I should be putting aside for my eventual tax bill for this year? Is it as simple as x% of (self-employed income - expenses), or is capital equipment treated differently as it depreciates over time?

JAutos

iTrader: (5)

Not sure I'm doing vehicles as Capitol. Equipment as normal expenses

ScoobyWon't

Is leasing a vehicle different to buying it?

And if so, how do you take in to account a deposit put down?

JAutos

iTrader: (5)

Yes leasing it the cost per month as its not classed as capitol as you dont own it.

RB5SCOTT

You can claim anything back that you pay for things towards your work. I'm assuming you are CIS registered. Although not vat registered you still claim back for tools,petrol,parking,running costs of cars, clothes, office, etc

Just save every single receipt that you think you can run through the business and let an accountant do the rest. An accountant will do your escalators for you. You should be in for a rebate if you have enough expense's

alloy

Mileage is usually 40p per mile...

FlightMan

45p per mile now. It went up in the budget.

Scooby Soon!

good accountant = £150 well spent which is the fee i pay, never even looked at a tax return in my life and had to have them since i was 17

dpb

I can see why you dont want to employ an accountant !

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Lots of fantastic misinformation on this thread.

Get a decent accountant.