Flat Rate Calculator

[SueEllen]

Yes but if a business purchase has a personal/private use element you can only reclaim the proportion that it is used for your business.

Personally I wouldn't worry about minimal personal usage of stuff that you've obviously bought for your business, including office furniture, computer equipment (so long as you really did need it for your work) etc. but be careful with stuff that could have any kind of dual purpose (e.g. a printer that you have in your home office, if its the only printer in the house, is very likely to have some non-business use too).

Doesn't that depend who lives in your house and how much use is personal?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Doesn't that depend who lives in your house and how much use is personal?

Yes, you only have to restrict your claim to how much private use there actually is, if any.

[Lost It]

So you have two printers, one for "Work" and one for the stuff your daughter does for school for instance.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

So you have two printers, one for "Work" and one for the stuff your daughter does for school for instance.

Or you have one, claim there is minimal personal use and claim 100% of the VAT, or if you want to be squeaky clean, reclaim say, 80% of the VAT to allow for any incidental personal use.

[v5srv]

Yes but if a business purchase has a personal/private use element you can only reclaim the proportion that it is used for your business.

Personally I wouldn't worry about minimal personal usage of stuff that you've obviously bought for your business, including office furniture, computer equipment (so long as you really did need it for your work) etc. but be careful with stuff that could have any kind of dual purpose (e.g. a printer that you have in your home office, if its the only printer in the house, is very likely to have some non-business use too).

And also personal use element of mobile phones - service plan and call charges??

[SueEllen]

And also personal use element of mobile phones - service plan and call charges??

If the use is incidental then it doesn't count.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

And also personal use element of mobile phones - service plan and call charges??

Check with your accountant. The rules for tax deductibility are different to the rules for VAT reclaims. You can provide one mobile phone for both business and personal use and often provide equipment (e.g. a laptop) where personal use is considered not significant if the sole purpose for the equipment was to enable you to do your job, and claim 100% of the cost against your CT bill but I'm not sure if this extends to reclaiming 100% of the VAT.

My understanding of the VAT rules is that you would have to apportion the claim, which would mean that you could have a company mobile phone used 50/50 for business personal use, offset 100% of the cost against your CT bill but only reclaim 50% of the VAT.

Edit: HMRC have some specific VAT guidance for mobile phone and call costs:

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ation-expenses

See 12A. TLDR; if a mobile phone provided by the business is used for personal calls, the VAT on the call charges must be apportioned. If you have a clear company policy of not allowing the phone to be used for personal calls, then HMRC will tolerate small amounts of personal use as insignificant for VAT purposes. It also looks like you'd be able to reclaim all the VAT on the purchase of the phone itself and any standing charges.