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Did you know that if you are self employed and work from home you can claim a deduction in your accounts?

You don’t have to work from home full time to claim the expense, you can simply use your ‘home office’ to prepare invoices or make phone calls and arrange meetings.  The expense is calculated by taking a proportion of your utility bills that relate to your business based on the number of rooms in your home.

However, HM Revenue & Customs do allow a simplified expense to be claimed instead based on the number of hours you work from home each month.

The simplified expense can be claimed if you work more than 25 hours or more at home each month.  See below:

25 to 50 hours = £10.00 per month

51 to 100 hours = £18.00 per month

101 hours plus = £26.00 per month

By including the allowance, you won’t need to calculate the proportion of your utility bills that relate to your business each month which is a time-consuming task but is an option if you spend a significant time working from home.

The allowance does not cover internet or telephone costs so you can include these costs separately.

If you would like more information you can contact a member of our expert tax team today, we offer tax advice across in Dalston, Dumfries, Penrith and Workington.