Allocating %age of bills when working from home

Yes you may claim against your biz for home energy costs i think its about 30-40% not quite sure..There is an accountant that regularly visits this forum, James Smith his is name and he knows his stuff..I can also help with the cost of your utility bills if you go to www.utilitiesplus.info and please take a look. Hope that helps Mark UK's cheapest service provider www.utilitiesplus.info
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I think 30%-40% is a little optomisitic. You need to work out the % space you use as an office (ie Cellar floor space) compared to the rest of the house. Take into account the number of rooms you have and there comparable sizes with regard to each other as you calculate the %. It need only be a rough % but make sure you can justify the figure to the Revenue should they query the claim. Barr Stevenson Chartered Accountant http:/www.our-accountants.co.uk
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Barr Stevenson
Chartered Accountant
http:/www.jsaccountants.co.uk

Thanks very much for your help folks (sorry for the delay, I only tend to get time to get on the PC long term in the evening). I'd definitely be interested to hear if James (that man that's clearly in the know) can clarify it for me. The problem is that, although the cellar is only one room of the house, the rest of the house literally doesn't get used Monday to Friday between 9am and 5-6pm as I'm working in the cellar. I have the PC, lighting (a LOT of lighting required), heating, etc. five days a week. The rest of the house is purely evenings and weekends, bizarrely enough! Many thanks for your help so far - I will check in again tomorrow evening to see if there are any more thoughts! G.
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Gx

Well its one of those "piece of string" questions. The IR worked examples use the number of rooms to determine the fractions. As Bar says above, % floor space would be equally as valid. In general don’t try to push it too hard would be my advice, the tax savings tend to be quite small overall and it isn’t really worth a big argument with the IR for the sake of a few %. Regarding time spent, don’t forget that even full time is only 20 odd% of the hours in the week.....so that argument might leave you slightly worse off. Stick to floor space and rooms. I guess if for some reason you are using a huge quantity of power in there, you could install a check meter in your cellar to prove the load on that circuit, but I would have thought that would be overdoing it somewhat. (The Mrs is an artist incidentally, and she has the sunniest room in the house...if only I had a cellar maybe I could get the sunny room...) its worth noting you can also claim part of your council tax and some other bills, but make sure you use the room for "non business" purposes as well so you don’t get a claim for business rates. Anyhow, sorry to be vague, but its the way the rules are written. Pick a (lowish) % and stick with it and you should be ok. Regards, James Smith Chartered Accountant [url]www.jamesesmith.co.uk[/url] [url]www.uktaxshop.co.uk [/url] 01284 764436
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk
01235 536 773

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Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT

Fantastic, thanks very much James - that's a big help. As far as the sunniest room in the house is concerned - I don't think the bathroom would be ideal!! :-) My cellar does have natural light though (bizarrely enough), so it ain't all bad. OK, so, bearing in mind the cellar, as far as floor space is concerned, is the entire width and depth of the house, and we have four floors, is 25% reasonable, or do you think I'm pushing it with that? It does also have domestic use (my tumble dryer is down here - (needs must!) I hate to be a pain, but could you give me an idea of the percentage of council tax (I had no idea you could claim part of that), etc. Obviously the phone is nice and easy as I just work through the phone bill each month, but any other tips would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks again - this forum has been a lifesaver, I can't find anything specific on the net at all.
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Gx

If you have 4 floors, 25% would be reasonable on a floor space basis as you are working full time. Your other general bills would be on the same shared basis (eg your council tax), with specific bills (like your telephone) on an incremental call charge basis. The tumble drier will do just fine for showing a bit of shared usage. There may be other things you can claim for depending on your circumstances. This is where your accountant will start to pay for themselves by advising you on what you can/cant claim and taking some of the pain away from doing your own tax returns. I should also give you peace of mind that your return is correct. If you need some help putting your return together some example fees are on my taxshop website. And yes that was a plug. Regards, James Smith Chartered Accountant [url]www.jamesesmith.co.uk[/url] [url]www.uktaxshop.co.uk [/url] 01284 764436
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James Smith
Chartered Accountant
www.jamesesmith.co.uk
01235 536 773

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Your indispensable guide to Small Business Bookkeeping, Self-Assessment & VAT

Thanks yet again James - the plug was well earned! lol I've had a look at your site too, and bookmarked it for when everything gets too faffy for me (which no doubt will be pretty soon).
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Gx