New contract - what expenses can I claim for?

[Dr Evil]

Hello

I have started a Contract 30 miles away from home and I am commuting daily, my previous contract meant me staying away, so i claimed all living costs as expenses , however it appears that other than mileage and use of office space, my accountant tells me there is not alot else I can claim for ?

Any ideas, suggestions on anything else that I am able to claim for, as I am going to be paying alot more tax now !!

cheers

[Zippy]

Hello

I have started a Contract 30 miles away from home and I am commuting daily, my previous contract meant me staying away, so i claimed all living costs as expenses , however it appears that other than mileage and use of office space, my accountant tells me there is not alot else I can claim for ?

Any ideas, suggestions on anything else that I am able to claim for, as I am going to be paying alot more tax now !!

cheers

Nope, I reckon travelling expenses is all you can (leigtimately) get.

[chef]

Before I can answer your very generic question I have to ask a few more questions:

- what exactly did your accountant advise you that you can claim for? and why would you choose to ignore his expert advice over some strangers on an Internet forum with financial matters of your business?
- what research have you found out as possibles in things you can claim from your expenses? or are you expecting free advice to be given to someone who shows no inclination to do their own research first?
- what did you find out from the FirstTimers section which you can find to the right?
note: FirstTimers section can be found at the right of the page, see that big annoying football? go to the next section up called CUK Navigation, now in that section read down, past Home, past News, a bit more it's deceivingly called FirstTimers, don't worry it confuses a lot of people.

So, with these 3 answers we can happily advise you if your research is correct or not and the various pro's and con's of what you found out..

Kind Regards
Chef (not my real name in case you were confused about it)

some free examples, buy yourself an extremely expensive laptop, this is a valid business expense, invest a lot in your pension, don't take all the profits out of your company to reduce your personal tax liability...

[thunderlizard]

buy yourself an extremely expensive laptop, this is a valid business expense

Buying yourself an expensive laptop is not a valid business expense. Buying your business an expensive laptop is a valid business expense.

[northernladuk]

You can...

a) Keep off the caps.
b) Try doing a tiny weeny bit of research before asking questions
c) Search the forum for the word expenses as it wouldn't be hard to guess this has been asked a million times.

Goodbye and thank you.

[chef]

Buying yourself an expensive laptop is not a valid business expense. Buying your business an expensive laptop is a valid business expense.

Pedantic I know but we're both right: As director I buy myself an extremely expensive laptop for use for business purposes and then submit my expense to my business, thus "buy yourself an expensive laptop". However, you're right, the business could purchase the laptop for me using company cards/accounts which looks better for the accounts but what I originally stated is correct.

[doodab]

You can claim for loads of stuff. Stamps, envelopes, use of mobile phone, pens, ink & paper for your printer, maybe even tea and coffee if you work from home a couple of days a week, not to mention office furniture, software, membership of professional bodies etc.

And of course, lots of really expensive computers.

[NotAllThere]

You can...

a) Keep off the caps.
....

Fixed that.

To the OP. While your tax bill goes up, so does the cash available to go into your pocket, by a rather greater amount. The £400 you were paying weekly, is now £300 extra to you - £100 extra to the taxman - to take hypothetical tax figures and expenses.

[blacjac]

Pedantic I know but we're both right: As director I buy myself an extremely expensive laptop for use for business purposes and then submit my expense to my business, thus "buy yourself an expensive laptop". However, you're right, the business could purchase the laptop for me using company cards/accounts which looks better for the accounts but what I originally stated is correct.

<Pedant>
No, you haven't bought yourself a laptop, you have bought your company a laptop.
</Pedant>

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Live off around 37k + expenses and keep the rest in business account. This is actually equiv to £50k + on permie. Invest a few k in SIP account too. BP shares are looking a good buy, Shell maybe even better.