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UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Sir Squeaky on January 11, 2009, 08:41:14 pm

Title: What can I claim for?
Post by: Sir Squeaky on January 11, 2009, 08:41:14 pm
I'm nearly done with the self assessment again, but I can't remember what I can claim for.
Could do with getting it down a bit, as it's been crap earning weather this month so far.

So far I've got:
Fuel
Van payments
equipment
clothing

I've had a mental block now. (I'm getting old)

Can anyone write a list of what they claim for please? :)
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: darragh windows on January 11, 2009, 08:43:43 pm
room in house as office ,telephone ,mobile,stamps
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: d s windowcleaning on January 11, 2009, 08:49:50 pm
soap powder for company workwear
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: ronnie paton on January 11, 2009, 08:52:38 pm
any insurances, any repairs any equipment (connectors or poles ect) stationary, everything you have used to run your business
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: darragh windows on January 11, 2009, 09:00:02 pm
can you claim for the water you use if your on a metre im not sure as it does not apply to me
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: Sir Squeaky on January 11, 2009, 09:10:04 pm
soap powder for company workwear
;D Nice one!
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: CLEANGLASSUK on January 11, 2009, 09:12:34 pm
You can claim for-

1.  Subsistance
2.  Laundry
3.  Clothing & Footwear
4.  INTERNET CONNECTION/EMAIL & INVOICING
5.  REPAIRS & RENEWAL’S
6.  PRINTING,POSTAGE & STATIONARY
7.  DAMAGE TO CUSTOMER PROPERTY NOT COVERED BY INSURANCE
8.  LIABILITY INSURANCE

These are just a few  ;D
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: East coast window cleaning Services on January 11, 2009, 09:15:04 pm
Get a accountant will cost but will save you money & time
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: jodan63 on January 11, 2009, 09:16:43 pm
internet connection? you mean the full monthly costs?
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: d s windowcleaning on January 11, 2009, 09:22:18 pm
soap powder for company workwear
;D Nice one!
it must have a logo .
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: Sir Squeaky on January 11, 2009, 09:27:05 pm
Get a accountant will cost but will save you money & time
No it won't, it will cost me £200!
I used to use one, but realised it was cheaper to do it myself.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: Niall McAllister on January 11, 2009, 09:31:22 pm
when i was with the post office you could claim £80 ish per year for cleaning. clothing doesn't have to be logo'd, but it has to be obvious work wear. if you keep the primart reciepts they still won't count.
you have three main expence types
1 business
2 personal
3 mixed use
keep all your receipts and decide what cat they belong in. internet and mixed stuff you work out the % of business use and put that on your return
niall
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: AuRavelling79 on January 11, 2009, 10:36:55 pm
Eight years back I took the view that as a trad window cleaner we needed a good washing machine to replace the one that had "died". We bought a Miele which is a very solid bit of kit and put 50% of it towards business expense and wrote that 50% down over four years. Now I'm wfp and use it less, but it 's still going strong.

Also about the same time I bought a very solid 12 x 8 shed, lined it out as an office and also used it to store my gear and ladders and that was a business expense and it is still going strong now. When I went wfp I moved my office to a corner of our dining room but the shed had depreciated to zero value and so I had no residual value to benefit from when I took it back to personal use.

This year I will charge a percentage of my house utilities for business expenses in the proportion that I estimate I use them.

Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: East coast window cleaning Services on January 11, 2009, 10:40:57 pm
Get a accountant will cost but will save you money & time
No it won't, it will cost me £200!
I used to use one, but realised it was cheaper to do it myself.

Yeah but problem is your struggling to workout what to claim for without one.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: NWH on January 11, 2009, 10:46:20 pm
Get a accountant will cost but will save you money & time
No it won't, it will cost me £200!
I used to use one, but realised it was cheaper to do it myself.
It`s not cheaper to do it yourself,a good 1 will save you a lot more than his-her fee and you wouldn`t need to ask these questions that`s the first thing you`ll save.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: birdymiller on January 11, 2009, 11:02:47 pm
Give your missus a job doing some partime bookeeping and admin £25 a week knocks a bit off your bill.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: Sir Squeaky on January 11, 2009, 11:03:44 pm
It`s not cheaper to do it yourself,a good 1 will save you a lot more than his-her fee and you wouldn`t need to ask these questions that`s the first thing you`ll save.
Rubbish, I've proved it already for the last 5 years!

To save me the £200 fee they would have to find another £1000 of receipts.
I don't think I could have missed out £1000 of washing powder and biros. ;D

And it's hardly a "problem" to ask on here for a few claim ideas. ::)
Better than paying £200, and I'd still have to fill in 52 weeks of accounts anyway!
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: NWH on January 11, 2009, 11:09:58 pm
Your be far lass likely to have your file pulled out the in tray if it`s done by an accountant trust me,with a chartered accountants name to it they normally just file it if you send it in your bound to get a pull somewhere down the line in my experience,£200 is better then having that over your head.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: Sir Squeaky on January 11, 2009, 11:12:33 pm
Your be far lass likely to have your file pulled out the in tray if it`s done by an accountant trust me,with a chartered accountants name to it they normally just file it if you send it in your bound to get a pull somewhere down the line in my experience,£200 is better then having that over your head.
If you're putting in £50k or something yes.
Not small fry like me.
It would cost them money to find little.

I can vouch for everything I own anyway, ao I'm not worried.
They can't prove sod-all.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: Niall McAllister on January 11, 2009, 11:17:59 pm
Your be far lass likely to have your file pulled out the in tray if it`s done by an accountant trust me,with a chartered accountants name to it they normally just file it if you send it in your bound to get a pull somewhere down the line in my experience,£200 is better then having that over your head.
If you're putting in £50k or something yes.
Not small fry like me.
It would cost them money to find little.

I can vouch for everything I own anyway, ao I'm not worried.
They can't prove sod-all.

that's it, as long as you have all your receipts they can pull your file as often as they want.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: Tosh on January 11, 2009, 11:19:06 pm
I'm with Squeaks on this one.   ;)
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: williamx on January 11, 2009, 11:28:16 pm
Eight years back I took the view that as a trad window cleaner we needed a good washing machine to replace the one that had "died". We bought a Miele which is a very solid bit of kit and put 50% of it towards business expense and wrote that 50% down over four years. Now I'm wfp and use it less, but it 's still going strong.

Also about the same time I bought a very solid 12 x 8 shed, lined it out as an office and also used it to store my gear and ladders and that was a business expense and it is still going strong now. When I went wfp I moved my office to a corner of our dining room but the shed had depreciated to zero value and so I had no residual value to benefit from when I took it back to personal use.

This year I will charge a percentage of my house utilities for business expenses in the proportion that I estimate I use them.



You can't do that I'm afraid, if you want to claim a percentage of your utilities including council tax, then the room you use for your business must not be used for any other purpose, so i you are using your living room, you cannot use that room other than for business, and it also cannot have any furniture other than office furniture in it.

You can claim between £3 and £5 per week to cover expences occured from using your home, check with your local tax office on what they allow.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: Klean07 on January 12, 2009, 07:09:19 am
I pay £300 for a bookeeper and £250 for my accountant. Though from April I'll be ditching one of them.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: Pj on January 12, 2009, 08:44:33 am
Your be far lass likely to have your file pulled out the in tray if it`s done by an accountant trust me,with a chartered accountants name to it they normally just file it if you send it in your bound to get a pull somewhere down the line in my experience,£200 is better then having that over your head.

So what would be your experience exactly?


I have 2 family members who are tax inspectors working in self assessment and I know exactly how you get selected.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: RSWindows on January 12, 2009, 09:10:39 am
Your be far lass likely to have your file pulled out the in tray if it`s done by an accountant trust me,with a chartered accountants name to it they normally just file it if you send it in your bound to get a pull somewhere down the line in my experience,£200 is better then having that over your head.

So what would be your experience exactly?


I have 2 family members who are tax inspectors working in self assessment and I know exactly how you get selected.



WELL?   Spill the beans!  dont keep us all hanging in suspence!
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: G O A on January 12, 2009, 09:42:53 am
HYDRO

You can't do that I'm afraid, if you want to claim a percentage of your utilities including council tax, then the room you use for your business must not be used for any other purpose, so i you are using your living room, you cannot use that room other than for business, and it also cannot have any furniture other than office furniture in it.

You can claim between £3 and £5 per week to cover expences occured from using your home, check with your local tax office on what they allow.
[/quote


not strictly true i have a friend who is a business advisor and who has run his own businesses for 40 odd years you can put percentage of electric for washing cloths and clothes phone bill line rental part of,any thing to do with business are you saying you cant put petrol receipts in cause sometimes you nip to the shop in your van  :-\
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: williamx on January 12, 2009, 10:25:46 am
HYDRO

You can't do that I'm afraid, if you want to claim a percentage of your utilities including council tax, then the room you use for your business must not be used for any other purpose, so i you are using your living room, you cannot use that room other than for business, and it also cannot have any furniture other than office furniture in it.

You can claim between £3 and £5 per week to cover expences occured from using your home, check with your local tax office on what they allow.
[/quote


not strictly true i have a friend who is a business advisor and who has run his own businesses for 40 odd years you can put percentage of electric for washing cloths and clothes phone bill line rental part of,any thing to do with business are you saying you cant put petrol receipts in cause sometimes you nip to the shop in your van  :-\

When I went on the courses that the tax man run at the tax office, they said that you can claim a persentage of the gas,electric and council tax if you use a roon as an office.

But they did point out  that you cannot use that room for its original purpose, so for example if you use a bedroom you cannot have any bedroom furniture or beds in it.

If you do and they do a home inspection they will fine you and ask you to pay the back taxex for the last 6 years.

Don't rely on what an advisor says, check it out with the tax man, even I might be wrong, because these courses I was on was 2 years ago. 
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: RSWindows on January 12, 2009, 10:28:37 am
Is it 6 years books u need to keep, for some reason i was under the impression it was 5.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: williamx on January 12, 2009, 01:10:11 pm
Nope its 6 years, or if you like me forever ;D
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: ps outthere on January 12, 2009, 07:51:28 pm
I would think the tax people have enough information on window cleaners, as there will be a few years of records from the likes of us, to know what the income and expenses should be, including start up costs etc, and some of these records will have been verified.
They will have percentages worked out; if your information doesn't match their graphs/charts there is, probably, a greater chance they will descend on you with fangs exposed. ;D
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: luther1 on January 12, 2009, 08:20:17 pm
Doesn't matter if the spare room has a bed in it. You can use the lounge if you want,just have a make shift desk.If the room is solely used as an office,or claimed to be,you would then have to pay business rates,as you would with the converted shed.
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: macmac on January 12, 2009, 08:21:26 pm
receipts mean nothing, it's money you've earned they're interested in, & money is very much harder to hide than you think.
REMEMBER- it's up to you to prove them wrong, NOT the other wat round!! If indeed you ever get "pulled".

Tony
Title: Re: What can I claim for?
Post by: cherubs cleaning on January 12, 2009, 08:44:18 pm
depreation on your van is a good one





jerry