advice for tax expenses

[brucelee]

Hi everyone,
I would like some advice and really appreciate any help. I am in the process of setting up and toying with if i should go limited or sole trader. I completed a 6 week electrical training course in august 09. It was for training and qualifications for C&G 2382-10, 2377, 2393, part p logic full scope also i got a megger mft 1552, basic ck toolkit, the regs and on site guide for the sum off £4,020. I would like to know am i allowed to claim this back of my tax bill when i set up as this was paid for by loans from family. I have a friend who did the course with me and then set up a limited company and he was told he can claim this back for expenses is this the same for sole trader. I contacted about 10 different inland revenue nos yesterday asking about start up and claiming this money back. the last tax phone no i phoned told me i can claim loans and expenses back as long as they are in same tax year i could really do with some advice on this as at some point will have to repay my family cheers for any info provided

 

[bugsy]

You can claim this back together with any other business related expeses but not until the end of your tax year, this will normally be offset against any tax you owe

 

[acat]

The only thing you cannot claim for is the first course you did, this is direct from inland revenue they state it cannot be a business expense as you didnt have a business until you were qualified and could call yourself an electrician dont ask me the logic behind that one.

Every other course you do and other expenses are tax deductable. If you can get yourself on a small business advisory course, its free and that will give you everything from taxation to marketing.


Good luck


Chris

 

[brucelee]

The only thing you cannot claim for is the first course you did, this is direct from inland revenue they state it cannot be a business expense as you didnt have a business until you were qualified and could call yourself an electrician dont ask me the logic behind that one.

Every other course you do and other expenses are tax deductable. If you can get yourself on a small business advisory course, its free and that will give you everything from taxation to marketing.


Good luck


Chris

Hi mate
so the £4020 I paid for 6 week private funded training and qualifications C&G 2382,2377,2393 and logic part p full scope also i got megger 1552, the regs and on site guide i cant claim for any of this as its before i set up I phoned them yesterday and asked they said as it was paid for by a loan from family then i could offset this against tax are you telling me i cant claim for this wether i am sole trader or limited company

i phoned ten different tax nos trying to check this yesterday being passed about like usual. I was lead to believe i could claim these back is it the same for limited or sole trader i cant because its before i set up

My mate who was on course said he can but difference is he registered limited with company house before he did course it would help if they give you a list of tax deductable things you can claim

i will have to ring them and try and find out exactly in morn as this was loan from family will have to be paid back at some point

 

[bugsy]

I know it's a bit late but you can obtain loans of up to £10k from the careers development angency for training and equipment , to further your skills,
loans are repayable over up to 5 years and there are no credit checks 0800 585 505

 

[cornburn]

Notify the inland revenue you started your business on a date before you did all the courses. Tell them it's a cable installations company and you're running as a sole trader. At the end of the year you can put all your courses through as they're adding new skills into the business. They can't tell you that you didn't have a business until you'd done the first course, as a sole trader you can do anything you want to make (or lose) money. Nothing stopping you from running a caravan sales as a sole trader, deciding you want to start fitting out electrics in your own caravan, doing a course and putting it through the books. At the same time you could resell walking shoes, offer a jet wash service and have a kid building bikes up you've imported from China if you like so who are the inland revenue to tell you exactly what your business is? I'm sure they might prefer it if you didn't put the first course down as it means you'll pay them more tax at the end of the year.

Get yourself a good accountant and seek their advice. Mine cost £600 last year and saved me more than that with their knowlege (have you looked at figures for being VAT registered or the flat rate scheme, did you know you can claim £5/day every day you work away from home more than 5 hours, £10/day every day you're away for more than 10 hours?) It's really worth paying them to do all this for you if they're any good. Being Ltd would cost you more as there's more paperwork for them to fill out, it also has many many legal implications concerning your role in the company and how banks accounts etc are used. I personally wouldn't dream of going Ltd as there are no benefits for me whatsoever.

 

[brucelee]

cheers for the posts,
hi coburn i did the courses from 06/07/09 to 14/8/09 and i paid for this in June the deposit £1000 on the 11/06/09 and £3019 on the 30/06/09 so i would be penalised for ot notifying them of start up. Also at minute i am a full time carer so on benefits so they would also be on my back.
I just had a appointment with a advisor from blue orchid who will help me apply for grants upto £2000 for equipment start up ,and has also said they will help me with start up,accounts, and anything else i basically need help with this is for three years and its free. He has told me that it may be possible to claim all start up costs even the course as long as i have reciepts he will try and claim for expenses i have incurred so far and offset against my tax. So all that i have to do now is decide wether to go limited or sole trader then get a business bank account, make a long list of everything i need and he will try to get me a grant for as much of this as he can. Does anyone know of a good bank account that provides free banking . once again thanks for all the advice i need as much as i can get

 

[cornburn]

Ah yes you'd be past the point when you should have told them about the start up then. You can introduce tools and capital items from up to 3 years before you started the business but I'm not sure about training. Just try it and see, if you're with a good accountant they probably won't want to check over minor details like that anyway.

Re the business bank account I'm still using my old student personal bank account and have been for over 3 years. I didn't need a loan or anything and this way there aren't any charges. I'll stick with this for as long as I can. If you went Ltd then obviously you couldn't get away with this. I'd start as a sole trader and use a normal bank account to begin with, no need to have more expense up front. A few years into the business once you're (hopefully) making good money you can decide to change things quite easily.

 

[Spudnik]

I do agree about getting a good accountant, especially in the first few years of trading.

There are quite a few things you can claim for that you wouldnt even have thought of, especially if you work from home.

As for bank accounts, if you have a personal bank, and are a sole trader and not registered for VAT then carry on using it for your business too.

I have never had a business account in all the years ive been trading, although, when they do away with cheques in a few years, there wont be much choice.

 

[brucelee]

cheers to all,
I am only just starting out but i have a business advisor from blue orchid who has been today. he said he will try as the £4020 was a loan and not just for the course but the regs,osg,megger1552 and ck basic toolkit so i suppose i will have to wait and see the advisor will help with start up,accounts and he is trying to get me grants for £2000 he will help me for three years i need advice on equipment and stuff i need to run a business so i can claim a grant for this e.g. computer, printer/fax, tools, advertising, stock i am basically allowed to buy anything with the grant but have to prove what i am buying where from and how much any ideas or should i open a new post cheers guys some good advice from you all