Self Assessment Question.

[divegirl]

Seeing as I work from home I was told I could claim 1/3 of my utility bills [possibly rent and council tax too].

Seeing as I have barely earned £8k, is it really worth putting this on the forms? Is it just more maths needed at my end that won't change anything or should I add it anyway?

Lisa x

[Grimaldi]

Who told you that? Someone down the pub? Only farmers get 1/3 of farmhouse costs without question.
See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/BIM47815.htm, the three bullet points towards the bottom of the page.
Yes, you should include them, but don't spend a lot of time over the calculation.

[Canary42]

It's entirely up to you what tax relief you claim, and only you can decide whether it's worth it.

[knowabit]

we claim all that stuff in our tax return... husband uses home as office.

[divegirl]

Errr actually it was HMRC that told me that! I work from home so they said I could claim such things utility costs.

Best answers go to Canary and knowabit lol

I'm not going to bother for last year as like I said, I only earned £8k... fingers crossed I'll need to claim all I can for this year lol

Lisa x

[twix123]

I would enter as much as you can anyway. Even though it won't affect your tax position for the last tax year, it may stop questions being asked in future years when it could substantially reduce any tax you have to pay.

[Gromit]

The 1/3 is acctually wrong. If you work from home and have an area, say a bedroom, that you mainly work from, then you can claim £4 per week without having to produce bills and receipts. If you want to claim more than that (it sounds like you don't) then you have to supply supporting evidence.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-household.htm

I would claim it. If you don't claim it now, but want to reduce your tax in future years by claiming for it, it could be challenged. Better to claim it now and be consistent. If you claim £4 x 52 = £208 then it is easy to do the form.

[divegirl]

Nice one Gromit, thank you for that.

Lisa x