question about being self employed

[lukese]

hey people. i was made redundant about six months ago from a PAYE job and have been self employed since, im a sparky. im a sub contractor im not working under a ltd company, my question is what sort of stuff can i claim for, people are telling me all sorts of stuff. wondered if anyone had a link to a site that lists in black and white what you can claim for and what not.

had my tax return through the post today and thinkin of getting it out the way now while i got a few quid in the bank, ive been having 20% taken at source as well as everything i paid when i was paye i think i should be due a rebate anyway!


any tips or advice from anyone?

[CzarJunkie]

Get yourself a good accountant, they'll pay for themselves.

[the.insane]

basically anything you need for your work purposes, new workboots, travel expenses , fuel, tools if you need a mobile phone for works purposes then that can be claimed for.

any repairs to your works van/car, keep the reciepts, including MOT fees.

[blaggard]

CJ has it bang on, find a good accountant who is experienced in your field and let him sort it for you.

[lukese]

thanks for the replys ill get an accountant sorted out and let you know how i get on, i need to find my P45 from the paye job first though!

[tawny]

thanks for the replys ill get an accountant sorted out and let you know how i get on, i need to find my P45 from the paye job first though!

An accountant is one option or you could use an Umbrella company if you're pulling contracts in. I use Parasol and i've attached a business expenses guide to give you an idea of what you can claim for.Attachment 18133

[Sanj[UK]]

Avoid Giant at all costs.

[ming]

its easy enough to do your own return , and work out if you owe or are owed any money.
the easiest way of telling you what you can claim for is : 40p a mile running cost for your vehicle for the 1st 10,000 miles then it drops down to 25p. this is better if you do a lot of miles rather than saving petrol receipts and keeping serviceing bills and receipts for tyres etc.
next is tools, work specific clothing eg high vis and toe cap boots , claim for out door boots as well as in door, commercial and private. loose tools which you don`t need receipts for , i normally claim £150-200 a year for this. office : devide your house bills by the number of rooms you have eg 3 bed house , living and kitchen = 5 rooms. so elec, gas, phone, water but no poll tax add them up and divide by 5. you need to say that this room is where you do your office work as well as a tool store with a locked door. there the major one`s plus materials for work obviously. off hand i can`t think of any more to add at the mo.
good luck and keep a diary { 2 if you work for a bit of cash in hand , now and again, then if you get a pull you can produce the "offical" one}

[rmj2663]

get a 'good' accountant. Preferably a recommendation.
A good accountant is worth their weight in gold.

[Gavin M]

Had recs for good accs from many people before, many of them seem to differ depending on what sort of self emps they normly deal with, if you are going to use one find one who does alot of account work for sparkys, its not cheeky asking when u meet em.
takes alot of ache out of self emp having a good acc
CzarJunkie is spot on with his comment
if u work 8-5, keep any receipts u pick up during the hours and dump em in a folder n hand em in each month, let the acc sort em, he'l then tell u what u can and cant claim for, you would be supprised what u can claim for

[Over Carl]

An accountant is one option or you could use an Umbrella company if you're pulling contracts in. I use Parasol and i've attached a business expenses guide to give you an idea of what you can claim for.Attachment 18133

I tried another umbrella company called gabem once and got bummed. Good accountant worked out much better.

[Little John]

Keep recipts for anything that you pay for while working, things like buying lunch as your not in your office, takeing clients out for a meal or work mates out for a drink after work. If you work late and cant be bothered cooking on return home get a recipt from where ever you go. Any expenses that you have that had you not been working you wouldn't have got then stick them in. Your internet connection say you use it for 10% of the time for work purposes then 10% of your ISP bill. New IT equipment can be claimed for as well and stationary.

But the acountant thing is invaluble, find one and let them sort it all out. i usually sprt all my recipts out and enter them in a spreadsheet showing the catagories, fuel, travel, parts and general it then show you how much your spending to work, you can then knock that off your income then divide that total by 3 to give you a rough idea how much you will pay. Ohh and don't leave it till the last minute to sort it all out.