Working from home and claiming expenses/vat

[Mottie]

Funnily enough I passed on that advice several months ago and mottie ridiculed said advice

Funnily enough, I didn’t ridicule the advice. I ridiculed you because you were presenting it as "one of the ideas being floated by HMRC" as if it was a new scheme they were considering and you had advance information.

Beware of HMRC itself...
With all these people now working from home, be careful with what you claim for...
Because one idea currently being floated is to raise capital gains tax based on a percentage of a home being sold that has a home office! So don't be tempted to claim a percentage of basics like energy costs etc!

"One idea being floated......". Where is that being floated? It’s ALWAYS been the case that if you designate one room or a part of your home solely for work use and claim costs for that, you will be liable for CGT when you sell. As long as the room is also used for something else (home gym, home cinema room, bedroom etc) there’s no problem.

Pillock.

 

[sxturbo]

I'm only going to claim for the furniture specific to the office and my work (desk and units). The decoration etc I'm doing and paying for

 

[mitch66]

If you want to claim VAT back you need to be VAT registered. Unless you are already, don't bother. I guess you're not otherwise you wouldn't ask the question. For 20% of naff all, not worth the agg.

 

[fillyboy]

Whatever you do, be careful about setting aside a room specifically for work and claiming expenses on that as you could be hit with capital gains tax if/when you sell your house.

Many years ago I had a house where because of the rear access I built a double garage at the end of the garden. Obviously because of my trade I stored some stuff in it, and it was a great workshop. I casually mentioned about claiming tax relief to the accountant and he said the same, don't even think about it. HMRC would come up with a valuation as a percentage of your house, which of course when you sell 20 or 30 years later, cgt would far outweigh any allowance you received.