Expense charges to property companies

[ivan j 10]

Hi everyone,

I am completing my year end accounts and considering whether to charge certain expenses to my property company - rent for office space at home and internet/phone use. 

I have read the advice (in Rob D's book), but would like to get a feeling for what people charge in practice. 

Has anyone had charges queried? Are people aggressive or fairly conservative?

Would love to hear about other experiences

Cheers

 

[dino v 145]

I haven't tried for the internet/phone, as it's a bit more complex. I have charged for use of the home as an office for each director - you can charge £4/week without needing to provide any further information. If you want to do more than that, you need to start showing percentage of your house that's an office etc.

Mileage is another easy claim - if you go to a viewing or to your property or to your accountants, you can claim 45p per mile. Then there were receipted expenses for things like box files and meals when a distance from home doing a viewing. 

That was done through a ltd company and agreed with the accountant. Suspect could have pushed things a bit further, but everything was genuine or things that HMRC won't question (office use), so rather that than a fine and big bill down the line.

[matt hall 22]

I've also only ever been conservative with this. We always claim mileage etc, but have never felt it worth while claiming for the other bits. 

If you are claiming something that is 'wholly and exclusively' for the business and you can easily prove it that's absolutely fine (i.e you took a phone contract out and use it 100% as a business phone only) but if its claiming a proportion of something (say 20% of your broadband bill) its hard to prove that is true. 

My mother's partner is a retired tax inspector, and when I've spoken to him about it the advice that stuck with me is that with any claim you make, HMRC don't have to prove you wrong, they just ask the question and you have to prove you are right. 

So overall I tend to just stick with the easy stuff as doesn't feel like it would be worth the hassle if the tax man did come knocking. 

I'd love to hear from any hubbers who have actually been on the receiving end of an inspection though!