Link of the Week: HMRC's Specific Tax Deductions: Use-of-home Examples

5/12/2012

HMRC's Specific Tax Deductions: Use-of-home Examples is a super link for UK editorial freelancers who fill in their own self-assessment forms and want some guidance on what deductions they can include. This one-page guide gives seven examples, and one may well provide a solid outline for your own small business set-up.

The example of at number 4 is an almost perfect match for my own set-up, the only difference being that "Chris" writes the words while I check them for errors. If one of these examples fits your editorial business model, it's relatively simple to build a spreadsheet with the equivalent formulae embedded to suit your own needs.

Of course, you'll need to investigate what other professional expenses are tax deductible including professional membership, software, hardware, training, broadband usage, domain name fees, and mileage, but the above link is really useful for working out what fixed and variable deductions you can make that are related to the building you're working in.

3 Comments

Richard Sheehan link

6/12/2012 03:03:04 am

Hi Louie

Very useful. Thanks for drawing my attention to it. I shall investigate thoroughly!

Kind regards

Richard

Louise Harnby link

7/12/2012 03:40:32 am

Hi Richard. Yes, it's worth a gander. I've always found HMRC to be incredibly helpful on the phone, too, when I've needed advice on tax and NI matters. I don't know why this surprised me, but it did!

Alison Lees link

8/12/2012 09:15:39 am

Pretty much what the tax advisor said when I rang up with my first PAYE. I take the number of hours I work in a week divided by the number of hours in a week, and I multiply that by one room divided by the number of rooms in the house for a use of home percentage. Items that are 'half business/half home' are calculate as 50%.

Whe is interesting is example 5. I'd never have thought of claiming for the cost of having the exterior decorated, or things like that.