Reply to: office refurb costs

[Lance]

Your office?

There’s loads of tulip and computers in my office. Perhaps I could claim for a skip as it needs to be cleared out.

[northernladuk]

, but there’s not a lot in it.

Your office?

[Lance]

Everyone recommending £4/week should really be recommending £18/month

Claim tax relief for your job expenses: Working at home - GOV.UK

Every little helps

I do claim £18 a month as my accountant advised that. I never really understood the £4 a week, but there’s not a lot in it.

[northernladuk]

Everyone recommending £4/week should really be recommending £18/month

Claim tax relief for your job expenses: Working at home - GOV.UK

Every little helps

Good spot lol.

[pr1]

Everyone recommending £4/week should really be recommending £18/month

Claim tax relief for your job expenses: Working at home - GOV.UK

Every little helps

[Batcher]

My post above largely covers this.



You could take the same argument to putting your TV through the company's books. HMRC do have the power to issue penalties on top of just disallowing something on a sliding scale in cases of carelessness/negligence/fraud. Claiming the cost of redecorating a room you use for business is unlikely to incur their wrath too much, and if it is a couple of hundred quid it's unlikely to stand out enough to provoke an enquiry. However, equally, if it's just a couple of hundred quid it's small enough that the tax benefit of trying to put it through the company's books is minimal.

You mean I can't get a 60" TV through the company? Lots of TVs in my client's offices for displays?

Not long after I started back in the day, I set up the LTD and registered for VAT. HMRC (Inland Revenue back then) sent me a VHS tape on how to administer VAT. I bought a brand new VCR for the company so that I could watch it and any more they wanted to send me. If I had needed a telly at the time I would have got one too.

[Maslins]

How do big companies do it? They buy or rent office space and refurbish it before they move in, and they move to bigger premises later on? They've improved the premises, paid with from company profits, but can't take it with them?

My post above largely covers this.

If you spend a couple of hundred quid refurbing a room to make it an acceptable office space for your Ltd. Co., I don't think there will be any comeback for that. If they say it's not allowed then all you have to do is pay it back into the business.

You could take the same argument to putting your TV through the company's books. HMRC do have the power to issue penalties on top of just disallowing something on a sliding scale in cases of carelessness/negligence/fraud. Claiming the cost of redecorating a room you use for business is unlikely to incur their wrath too much, and if it is a couple of hundred quid it's unlikely to stand out enough to provoke an enquiry. However, equally, if it's just a couple of hundred quid it's small enough that the tax benefit of trying to put it through the company's books is minimal.

[Batcher]

This. To my mind there's two very different things:
1) buying a desk, chair, filing cabinet etc which are all mobile and are very much typical office/work things. Yes they could be used personally, but they're not going to increase the value of your home.
2) redecorating a room in your house, new carpets etc. This will likely be increasing the value of your home. Yes you may be using that room as a home office for now, but there's fairly clear duality of purpose, and the business can't realistically take the carpet and the paint from the walls if you move.

How do big companies do it? They buy or rent office space and refurbish it before they move in, and they move to bigger premises later on? They've improved the premises, paid with from company profits, but can't take it with them?

If you spend a couple of hundred quid refurbing a room to make it an acceptable office space for your Ltd. Co., I don't think there will be any comeback for that. If they say it's not allowed then all you have to do is pay it back into the business.

[Maslins]

Is that the same argument that you'd apply to any business that moves premises?

Kind of, yeah. It's been a while since I've advised on any of the below...so might not be 100% accurate but is my recollection.

Generally for something to qualify for capital allowances, it needs to be mobile. One example is office partitions. Sometimes they're stud walls that cannot be moved (without a builder, and old one being demolished), other times they're basically big lego bits that can be dismantled/reassembled elsewhere. Another example is carpets, where a fitted carpet wouldn't qualify, but carpet tiles would.

There are some things that don't fit this box but do qualify for capital allowances (when they're wholly and exclusively for the benefit of the business). Examples include most plumbing/electrical work, and things like kitchens/toilets. There are specialists in what does/doesn't qualify for capital allowances when doing a big office refurb...plus entirely separate to capital allowances, there's the question of whether it can be considered a repair/replacement instead.

My understanding is this person works from home. The room in the home that they happen to use as an office is a bit grubby. They want to make that room nicer. The fact they may be currently using that room as an office we feel doesn't outweigh the fact that it's a home improvement. So we don't feel it meets the wholly and exclusively for the benefit of the trade test. Things like the specific office furniture it's far easier to argue this, as they won't be increasing the property value.

[LondonManc]

This. To my mind there's two very different things:
1) buying a desk, chair, filing cabinet etc which are all mobile and are very much typical office/work things. Yes they could be used personally, but they're not going to increase the value of your home.
2) redecorating a room in your house, new carpets etc. This will likely be increasing the value of your home. Yes you may be using that room as a home office for now, but there's fairly clear duality of purpose, and the business can't realistically take the carpet and the paint from the walls if you move.

Is that the same argument that you'd apply to any business that moves premises?

[Yorkie62]

....the business can't realistically take the carpet and the paint from the walls if you move.

You'd be surprised what people will take with them when they move house these days.

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[LondonManc]

They all appear to have 'guessed' the same answer though

Flat-earthers all share the same belief too....

[Maslins]

I agree with everyone else though that anything that can be seen more as home improvements including decorating etc. likely to be disallowed or potentially be taxed as a benefit.

This. To my mind there's two very different things:
1) buying a desk, chair, filing cabinet etc which are all mobile and are very much typical office/work things. Yes they could be used personally, but they're not going to increase the value of your home.
2) redecorating a room in your house, new carpets etc. This will likely be increasing the value of your home. Yes you may be using that room as a home office for now, but there's fairly clear duality of purpose, and the business can't realistically take the carpet and the paint from the walls if you move.

[Batcher]

My daughter wants her bedroom redecorated. Apparently she's now too old for pink, and instead wants a dark teal colour. This happens to be the same colour that I use for my company logo, business cards and web site. Sounds claimable, right?

It is if you have enough paint left over from decorating your company logo, business cards and web site

[Batcher]

Scansnap + Evernote. Nobody needs to store 7 years' worth of actual physical paper any more.

Can't be arsed scanning all the paper though. Time is money.