Pages in topic:   < [1 2]
Expenses - room
Thread poster: clairetransl (X)
clairetransl (X)
clairetransl (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:49
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Calculations Dec 10, 2013

Charlie Bavington wrote:

clairemcn wrote:

Finally, for future reference, all of the rent we paid in Spain came out of my partner's account, as I did not have a Spanish bank account (we are not married, just cohabiting) - theoretically, would it still be OK to claim this as an expense?


Did you pay any money towards this rent (i.e. reimburse your partner)? If not, then I would say no, since you haven't incurred a business expense. If so, then potentially yes, but again, whether you bother probably depends to an extent to the sums involved (i.e. the tax saved) versus the cost of proving it if ever called upon to do so. With profit (do you mean "profit", since you're still at the stage of determining your costs....?) of around £1,000, I'm inclined to the supposition (always a risky business ) that the tax savings are not likely to be that great, and it's probably not worth bothering, simply because it will not make an iota of difference (are you likely to reach the personal income tax threshold for 2012-13?).

[Edited at 2013-12-09 19:29 GMT]


Yes, but I paid it in cash.

The thing is that I am over the personal income tax threshold because of my day job and from what I can see, what I claim (or don't claim) in expenses for the self-employed work will make a significant difference to the tax refund I get. In reality, I made a loss last tax year, because I what I paid out for the office rent is actually more than what I made from translating, so I should be due a higher refund, but unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to prove that. I think you're right - the hassle and stress of having to prove the expenses isn't worth extra bit of refund. I'm now in a much more 'normal' situation (rent payments to my partner are via online banking and can easily be proven and we have a flat to ourselves now so less complication calculations), so hopefully all/most of this hassle will be avoided next year!


 
Charlie Bavington
Charlie Bavington  Identity Verified
Local time: 13:49
French to English
Probably the right decision Dec 10, 2013

Well, I believe it is possible to carry forward losses to subsequent tax years, but we are at this point into territory I have no experience of, and I'm not going to offer advice about things I don't know about! Such as how that process works if, as well as a loss from self-employment, you also have a positive income from employment in the same year.

One imagines HMRC take a close interest in people working from home claiming losses from self-employment as well as income from emplo
... See more
Well, I believe it is possible to carry forward losses to subsequent tax years, but we are at this point into territory I have no experience of, and I'm not going to offer advice about things I don't know about! Such as how that process works if, as well as a loss from self-employment, you also have a positive income from employment in the same year.

One imagines HMRC take a close interest in people working from home claiming losses from self-employment as well as income from employment, because otherwise it could potentially be a way for millions of people to offset the costs of rent or mortgages, couldn't it?

So claiming such losses could, I imagine, draw unwanted attention to your tax return (I believe, courtesy of a chum who used to work in IT for HMRC, that their "random" inspections are in part determined by those returns that deviate from the statistical norm - although that sounds plausible enough to me, readers are advised to file it under the "A bloke down the pub said..." category ). And as you may be aware, the burden of proof on a tax inspection is not for HMRC to prove that you that your tax return is "wrong", it is for you to prove that it is "right" (that's from my accountant, not a bloke down the pub). Which in your position would appear to be nigh on impossible.

So after all that, I think your conclusion is probably the right one, unfortunately for you.
Collapse


 
Pages in topic:   < [1 2]


There is no moderator assigned specifically to this forum.
To report site rules violations or get help, please contact site staff »


Expenses - room






Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »
Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »