What date can I claim expenses from?

[mashetti]

I have searched the forums and can't find much about this.

My situation is as follows:

1. Begin looking for work / start to incur expenses - 01-APR-2006

2. Register my Ltd Company - 01-MAY-2006

3. Start Contract - 01-JUN-2006

I assume I can claim for expenses from the date the company was registered onwards (01-MAY-2006) no problems i.e. regardless of having work or not. However, am I allowed to claim for expenses before my company was registered? I am thinking no as the company didn't exist. Also, if this was allowed then I could go back years and claim uni fees etc. Maybe there is a period that is allowed, say 1-2 months prior to company formation? I have all receipts and would obviously only claim legitimate expenses.

[XLMonkey]

You can claim legitimate expenses for a period of up to 6 months prior to company formation.

[mashetti]

You can claim legitimate expenses for a period of up to 6 months prior to company formation.

Excellent

On a similar note, can I pay myself a salary, say roughly 400 a month, for the month prior to my company being registered and also for the month that I didn't have a contract? I would assume so if you can claim expenses but don't want to get into trouble.

[XLMonkey]

Excellent

On a similar note, can I pay myself a salary, say roughly 400 a month, for the month prior to my company being registered and also for the month that I didn't have a contract? I would assume so if you can claim expenses but don't want to get into trouble.

you can certainly pay yourself a salary for the time when you didn't have a contract. On salary prior to company registration -- I'm not 100% sure but I think that the answer is not. However, do note that, if you were not receiving any income from another source, you should be able to pay yourself more/month now before becoming liable for income tax (as you have a month or so when you didn't reach the threshold set by your PAYE tax code, this then can be carried forward into the remaining months of the tax year).

....although, I would have to say that this sort of question is the reason that most of us have an accountant (whose problem it then becomes)

[xoggoth]

If VAT registered you can also claim VAT on business setup costs before registration. Not sure about other expenses but all it's on their webtulipe somewhere.