Tax Benefits of Working from Home

If you run your business from your home, you will not only save on overheads, there are also a few tax perks to be had. You do, of course, need to know the rules. HMRC is strict about what constitutes legitimate expenses that can be claimed and deducted from the taxable income of the business.

If you use a part of your home as an office, you can claim a percentage of your lighting and heating utilities as expenses. Likewise you can claim for business telephone calls and broadband internet use. When you use a car for work, you will not have dead mileage that you cannot claim for, as your work base is at your home. You can claim for the regular supplies you need just as you would in bespoke business premises.

If you employ people working from their homes, be sure that any expenses you pay them are completely work related, otherwise over and above a tax free amount of £3 a week, they cannot be claimed.

When you first set up an office at home, the fixed assets you need to purchase will go into your business accounts.

There are complex rules about what you can set against tax for these items, and how to depreciate them when your year end accounts are completed. You may need to get professional help so that you do not fall foul of HRMC rules, treating the fees for this as expenses of course.

Taking professional advice is vital to ensure you are maximising your taxable expenses as a business; it could mean the difference between breaking even, and making a profit.

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