As a self-employed person in the UK, you will need to fill out and complete a personal tax return, or self-assessment tax return, at the end of each year, which needs to be submitted to HMRC. You can choose to complete this yourself or appoint accountants Glasgow to submit for you.
This allows the authorities to see how income you have earned throughout the course of the year and determine the income that you are required to pay tax on.
Part of the key steps in determining how much tax you are required to pay is in calculating the total cost of expenses that you have incurred. You are permitted to deduct some of the expenses that have been incurred from the gross profit in order to claim some tax relief. But, it is important to note, not all business cost or purchase is deductible.
Allowable Expenses
Allowable expenses are costs that your business has incurred that you are able to deduce from your total gross profits, before calculating what your annual tax bill is.
Before calculating your expense you need to understand the differences between personal and business expenses. A business expense is directly linked to your business and successfully running it. Personal expenses have no direct link to your business and therefore are not deductible. For more information on accountants in Melbourne check out Liston Newton Advisory.
Business expenses can be broken down into different categories.
Office Expenses
Office expenses are the costs that are incurred to furnish your office. You will be required to provide evidence of these expenditures, so it is important that all receipts are kept. But, office expenses can relate to not only stationary costs but also, desk, mobile and broadband bills. You can also claim office furniture, including desks, chairs, computers along with posting and printing costs you may have incurred.
If you have had to purchase any new computer software for the running of your business, you can also deduce the cost of this as an allowable expense subject to it being less than 2 years old.
Premises Expenses
You are also able to claim some of your business expenses and running costs. Rent, repairs, utility bills and business property insurance are some of the expenses that can be deduced. It is important to note that only rent can be deducted, HMRC do not permit expenses for purchased properties.
However, if you have to install, replace or do repairs in your rental property, you can then go ahead and claim those costs within your allowable expenses.
Travel Expenses
If you are required to travel as part of your business, whether that be client meetings, meeting suppliers or seeing investors there are some travel expenses you can claim.
It doesn’t matter how you choose to travel from the rail, road or air, you can apply to claim travel expenses on fuel costs, insurances, parking and breakdown cover. If you have specific business vehicles you can also claim travel expenses for maintenance and servicing of these fleet vehicles. If your travels result in you needing an accommodation, you are also permitted to claim the cost of your hotel rooms and meals whilst on your business trip.
