Running a business can be expensive. It’s said that even starting a business from home can cost a couple of thousand pounds. So discovering what you can claim as business expenses is important. It really could be the different between make or break for your business. Here’s a few of the key Tax Deductible Expenses for Small Businesses.
If you have a home office, you can put the decorating and furnishing of said office through your business expenses. Also look into claiming for the room against your council tax. If you have six rooms in your house and one of those is used just as an office you should be justified to claim back a sixth of your council tax. Even if you only do a bit of paperwork at home occasionally, you may claim an appropriate proportion of household bills as a business expense. This includes heating & lighting.
If you have a phone that you only use for business, charge the running costs of that device back as a deductible expense. Not only the contract payments, but the device price itself and any monthly extra charges for mobile data or calls out of your price plan. You can also do this for business calls on your home phone.
If you use your car or vehicle for work you can also claim some of this back against your business. This would include fuel, insurance, car maintenance and road tax. Whilst you can’t claim for getting to work, any trips you do for work can be put as small business expenses. If you do 10,000 miles in a year and 1,000 of those were for work, claim back 10% of your payments.
If your family helps out your business at all, you can pay them a wage, which is then a deductible business expense. If your husband answers your business calls, he’s doing work for the business. If your eldest niece helps you out for a couple of weeks, that’s a business expense. If your brother in law helps you on a job, guess what, that’s a business expense.
If you have to head to London for a meeting, the train travel, for example, to get you there is a business expense. The hotel room that you may have to stay in, is too. Don’t think that you have to scrimp and save on the travel, hotel or meal when you are there because you’re paying for it. These are allowable. Enjoy the steak dinner, it’s a deductible expense!
There’s nothing more exciting than the staff Christmas party but did you know that you can charge yours back as a deductible expense? As long as the cost comes in at under £150 per head, you could actually charge two or more events back each financial year. Just because you’re not ‘corporate’, doesn’t mean you have to miss out!
These are probably some of the most common expenses you can put through your small business, but there are many more. These could include legal fees, renting of machinery, advertising and office supplies. Think about what you use to run your business and it’s probably tax deductible.
