Moving/Doing Up Home Office, Expenses Questions

[MikhailCompo]

Q1) So I had an office, then turned it into a bedroom whilst i was a permi

Now finished that room, and turning the bedroom into an office (and dressing room for her...... pah...)

I need a desk, summat for the (massive) printer to sit on, and i want a document scanner.

Can I buy these on the Ltd account and claim for these?


Q2) My phone is a on personal contract (£45pm), doesn't finish until March 2018, can i just start paying the bill from a different account and call it my business phone from now until i can get a new one as a business contract?

Can I also add in my phone as an asset?

Cheers

[eek]

Q1) So I had an office, then turned it into a bedroom whilst i was a permi

Now finished that room, and turning the bedroom into an office (and dressing room for her...... pah...)

I need a desk, summat for the (massive) printer to sit on, and i want a document scanner.

Can I buy these on the Ltd account and claim for these?


Q2) My phone is a on personal contract (£45pm), doesn't finish until March 2018, can i just start paying the bill from a different account and call it my business phone from now until i can get a new one as a business contract?

Can I also add in my phone as an asset?

Cheers

What does your accountant say?

As for your questions:-

1) You would be hard pushed to claim furniture in the house (mind you I've never tried to).
2) No- the contract needs to be explicitly in your company's name

[SueEllen]

You can only claim business related calls from your mobile phone. So that is the cost of each phone call that is business related.

If you have free minutes etc that's tough.

In general you can claim equipment but it doesn't mean you can take the piss.

[northernladuk]

I'd say you use the printer and scanner personally so the thing it sits on has to have dual purpose as well surely so no to the desk. You'd need it if you didn't have company so isn't wholly and exclusively. HTH

[MikhailCompo]

Sorry, should have added - My account is EXTREMELY hesitant to even suggest claiming on anything it seems. Seems they don't want to be blamed if it's inaccurate advice/HMRC changing their tune.

[MikhailCompo]

I'd say you use the printer and scanner personally so the thing it sits on has to have dual purpose as well surely so no to the desk. You'd need it if you didn't have company so isn't wholly and exclusively. HTH

One of the issues to get my head around, and this applies to most IT contractors i am sure, is that when i sit about at a weekend, dicking around with servers etc. it seems like a hobby.

However, I would not be employed had I not done that for the last 15 years - I have had pointed out to me by a fin. adviser and other contractors that this is time spent learning/training and actually I should be more disciplined about the time spent.

With this in mind, should I be recording the time spent doing this kind of thing in order to show (should it come to that) that the above desk/laptop etc. are used for the business, whilst not being used directly with my current contract (SC so cant bring my laptop on site and no remote working)?

Does the above two paras hold water regarding business expenditure?

[northernladuk]

Try thinking about it from a different angle. It's still coming out of your pocket at the end of the day, albeit at a discount. How far do you want to push it it just for a discount?

Is it wholly and exclusively for carrying out the tasks you get paid for?

Your accountant will be hesitant as you've probably asked for a load of things, some of which is clearly not allowed but they aren't techies and don't know your business so can't give a clear distinction on others. Rock and a hard place so default stance should be to disallow.

[RonBW]

I'd say you use the printer and scanner personally so the thing it sits on has to have dual purpose as well surely so no to the desk. You'd need it if you didn't have company so isn't wholly and exclusively. HTH

If the personal use is incidental then that is fine to claim as a business expense. Only if the personal use becomes more than incidental would there be a question of duality of purpose. (Link)

So, just because you can use the printer and scanner personally, unless that use is more than incidental then the OP is fine to claim the business expense - or buy the items directly from the company bank account in the company name.

I'd claim the printer, scanner and desk. In fact, when my business needed a printer, scanner and somewhere for me to work I did exactly that.

[northernladuk]

If the personal use is incidental then that is fine to claim as a business expense. Only if the personal use becomes more than incidental would there be a question of duality of purpose. (Link)

So, just because you can use the printer and scanner personally, unless that use is more than incidental then the OP is fine to claim the business expense - or buy the items directly from the company bank account in the company name.

I'd claim the printer, scanner and desk. In fact, when my business needed a printer, scanner and somewhere for me to work I did exactly that.

Makes sense I guess but is it also going to be used for her as it's her dressing room as well?

[RonBW]

Makes sense I guess but is it also going to be used for her as it's her dressing room as well?

I doubt that she's going to be scanning and printing while getting dressed

If the use of the printer, scanner or desk is more than incidental then there is a chance that HMRC would argue that the items have a duality of purpose.