[Cookie]

You can claim for any expense incurred for the running and operation of your business - including work wear (ppe) regardless of whether it bears your logo or not. So long as your purchases are both genuine and economically justifiable then you'll have no issue.

Ild like to use your accountant if you think you can put clothes thru and its ok. That for sure is a loosing battle dispite how you want to argue it

This is what I found on the HMRC website:

https://www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed/clothing

I guess the key thing here is You can’t claim for everyday clothing (even if you wear it for work). I don't for example wear my steel toe-capped work boots outside of work  - so I don't count these as "everyday clothing" - so by my interpretation here would be that  it's OK to claim the cost of these as a business expense.

[SeanK]

You can claim for things like overalls boiler suits high vis and so on, anything that you wouldn't buy if you didn't need it
to do your job.
You cant claim for things like jeans, t shirts, underwear socks that you would be using anyway, the same goes for food that I think somebody mentioned earlier, you need it if your working or not so it not a work expense.
Doesn't matter what the product is, if you can prove that you couldn't earn without buying it then you can legally claim for it as
long as its a reasonable spend, spend £2k on a product you could get for £500 and your going to have a bit of explaining to do.

[ChumBucket]

You can claim for any expense incurred for the running and operation of your business - including work wear (ppe) regardless of whether it bears your logo or not. So long as your purchases are both genuine and economically justifiable then you'll have no issue.

Ild like to use your accountant if you think you can put clothes thru and its ok. That for sure is a loosing battle dispite how you want to argue it

I use a chartered accountant firm. You are more than welcome to contact them for clarification. Give me your email and I'll pass you their details. Or you could contact any accountants, read them my statement word for word and see what they say.

[andyM]

We've got a caller.....er Gary, on the line.
Gary wants to know....."Can I claim for Custard Cream Biscuits?". 

[Spruce]

dont forget van MOT/commercial van insurance/road tax/repairs etc if your van is just used for work.

If he's charging 45 pence a mile business use for his own van then none of his van's expenses, ie, fuel, insurance, tax, MOT,  depreciation, servicing and repairs are claimable. They are incorporated in his per mile claim.

[Spruce]

The Receiver calls it SELF assessment.

However, what you think are legitimate business expenses may not be what the receiver accepts. Although they may call it self assessment, its only that when they agree with your self assessed claims.

They will have a business model for window cleaners and they will have a pretty good idea of what your % expenses should be relative to your turnover. If expenses are too high then they will have a look and interpret the figures for that year. You probably won't hear from them, but if your ratio is too high the following year then they are more likely to start to sniff around.

If you are claiming for things you shouldn't (their view of business expenses is the only view that counts) then they can make your life a misery.   

[SeanK]

The Receiver calls it SELF assessment.

However, what you think are legitimate business expenses may not be what the receiver accepts. Although they may call it self assessment, its only that when they agree with your self assessed claims.

They will have a business model for window cleaners and they will have a pretty good idea of what your % expenses should be relative to your turnover. If expenses are too high then they will have a look and interpret the figures for that year. You probably won't hear from them, but if your ratio is too high the following year then they are more likely to start to sniff around.

If you are claiming for things you shouldn't (their view of business expenses is the only view that counts) then they can make your life a misery.

Spot on, that's why people hire accountants as they can put them in their place and claim for thing that we might not get
away with.
That said for a self employed window cleaner there isn't going to be much in it and the accountant will more than likely cost
you more than they will save.

[Marc Stock]

To be honest.  Salad Eater is going to like this..

Id speak to an accountant. I had a very bad experience with HMRC that lasted 5 years and resulted in me having to eventually go bankrupt.  Im discharged now for but its had a significant impact on my health i suffer with depression as a result

I was doing all my own books, tax returns etc etc. Got advice from websites, business owners and in all tense and purposes was foing what i thought was the right thing;  was making a lot of money  up until 2007 when the commercial work bottomed out i had to replace the work with domestic.

As a result my tax returns earnings dropped suddenly which triggred an alarm at HMRC and they did a tax investigation on me.

No worries i thought as i kept all my records accurately, how wrong was i?  My record keeping only sereved to incriminate me further, and HMRC took me to the cleaners with stuff i had no idea about. I thought i was going to get an extra £10k  bill from them i was so worried, plus my marrige was breaking down all at the same time (thats a different story though) i ended up with a £45k bill from them.

At that point no accountant would touch me and i was on my own. For the next few years i worked my butt off trying to pay it back but the interest was killing me, so i filed in 2014 and was discharged August last year.

Now i have a chartered accountant. Lesson learned.

(Anyone who now doesn't beleive me and thinks this is more BS They can check the official records office, stick that in yer pipe and smoke it)

[SeanK]

To be honest.  Salad Eater is going to like this..

Id speak to an accountant. I had a very bad experience with HMRC that lasted 5 years and resulted in me having to eventually go bankrupt.  Im discharged now for but its had a significant impact on my health i suffer with depression as a result

I was doing all my own books, tax returns etc etc. Got advice from websites, business owners and in all tense and purposes was foing what i thought was the right thing;  was making a lot of money  up until 2007 when the commercial work bottomed out i had to replace the work with domestic.

As a result my tax returns earnings dropped suddenly which triggred an alarm at HMRC and they did a tax investigation on me.

No worries i thought as i kept all my records accurately, how wrong was i?  My record keeping only sereved to incriminate me further, and HMRC took me to the cleaners with stuff i had no idea about. I thought i was going to get an extra £10k  bill from them i was so worried, plus my marrige was breaking down all at the same time (thats a different story though) i ended up with a £45k bill from them.

At that point no accountant would touch me and i was on my own. For the next few years i worked my butt off trying to pay it back but the interest was killing me, so i filed in 2014 and was discharged August last year.

Now i have a chartered accountant. Lesson learned.

(Anyone who now doesn't beleive me and thinks this is more BS They can check the official records office, stick that in yer pipe and smoke it)

I had a mate who went through similar, he had some very big named commercial customers who basically didn't pay him (wont name them for legal reasons) and the HMRC refused to believe him,he would have been in serious trouble if it wasn't for his accountant.
He still ended up massively out of pocket though and the experience left that bad a taste in his mouth that he shut down the
business putting 10 or more employees on the dole.
Personally what I spend yearly on expenses doesn't warrant an accountant but there will certainly be guys on here where it
would be a must.
Have another mate who's business has just went belly up and is going though a hard time at the moment struggling to even
keep the family home, its not nice.

[Marc Stock]

To be honest.  Salad Eater is going to like this..

Id speak to an accountant. I had a very bad experience with HMRC that lasted 5 years and resulted in me having to eventually go bankrupt.  Im discharged now for but its had a significant impact on my health i suffer with depression as a result

I was doing all my own books, tax returns etc etc. Got advice from websites, business owners and in all tense and purposes was foing what i thought was the right thing;  was making a lot of money  up until 2007 when the commercial work bottomed out i had to replace the work with domestic.

As a result my tax returns earnings dropped suddenly which triggred an alarm at HMRC and they did a tax investigation on me.

No worries i thought as i kept all my records accurately, how wrong was i?  My record keeping only sereved to incriminate me further, and HMRC took me to the cleaners with stuff i had no idea about. I thought i was going to get an extra £10k  bill from them i was so worried, plus my marrige was breaking down all at the same time (thats a different story though) i ended up with a £45k bill from them.

At that point no accountant would touch me and i was on my own. For the next few years i worked my butt off trying to pay it back but the interest was killing me, so i filed in 2014 and was discharged August last year.

Now i have a chartered accountant. Lesson learned.

(Anyone who now doesn't beleive me and thinks this is more BS They can check the official records office, stick that in yer pipe and smoke it)

I had a mate who went through similar, he had some very big named commercial customers who basically didn't pay him (wont name them for legal reasons) and the HMRC refused to believe him,he would have been in serious trouble if it wasn't for his accountant.
He still ended up massively out of pocket though and the experience left that bad a taste in his mouth that he shut down the
business putting 10 or more employees on the dole.
Personally what I spend yearly on expenses doesn't warrant an accountant but there will certainly be guys on here where it
would be a must.
Have another mate who's business has just went belly up and is going though a hard time at the moment struggling to even
keep the family home, its not nice.

Exacly HMRC are the biggest bunch of con artists you will ever have the displeasure of dealing with.

Compound interest on interest with late fees 50-100% of the current balance with interest.

Complete bunch of low life morons. I hate them so much. You know they laughed at me on the telephone? I lodged a complaint about that and nothing

HMRC target one man bands because it's easy meat. And if they still cant get what they want out ouf you they kick you when you are down.

They will quite literally argue that black is white if they think you have no way of challenging them via knowledge or tax advice.

In an ideal world for HMRC all our money would go to them and they would tell us what we can and cant do with our lives.

They are an evil organisation linked with the illuminati to bring in money on lended bonds to the government so the government can tax the people to make the bankers richer.  And im not talking about barclays or lloyds, im talking the bank of england, the American reserve, and all other national  banks owned by the rothschilds.

Woah deep

[Tosh]

Well, that escalated quickly.

[Tosh]

To be honest.  Salad Eater is going to like this..

Id speak to an accountant. I had a very bad experience with HMRC that lasted 5 years and resulted in me having to eventually go bankrupt.  Im discharged now for but its had a significant impact on my health i suffer with depression as a result

I was doing all my own books, tax returns etc etc. Got advice from websites, business owners and in all tense and purposes was foing what i thought was the right thing;  was making a lot of money  up until 2007 when the commercial work bottomed out i had to replace the work with domestic.

As a result my tax returns earnings dropped suddenly which triggred an alarm at HMRC and they did a tax investigation on me.

No worries i thought as i kept all my records accurately, how wrong was i?  My record keeping only sereved to incriminate me further, and HMRC took me to the cleaners with stuff i had no idea about. I thought i was going to get an extra £10k  bill from them i was so worried, plus my marrige was breaking down all at the same time (thats a different story though) i ended up with a £45k bill from them.

At that point no accountant would touch me and i was on my own. For the next few years i worked my butt off trying to pay it back but the interest was killing me, so i filed in 2014 and was discharged August last year.

Now i have a chartered accountant. Lesson learned.

(Anyone who now doesn't beleive me and thinks this is more BS They can check the official records office, stick that in yer pipe and smoke it)

This is a great post as it illustrates why a good accountant is best. We all love to think we're saving a bob or two by doing our own books but if things get sticky re: HMRC then you're on to a stinking great loser should they decide to investigate you. Not knowing your stuff leaves you in a position where they're already 4 or 5 laps ahead of you; not knowing your stuff but thinking you do leaves you 8 or 9 laps behind.

[Perfect Windows]

They are an evil organisation linked with the illuminati to bring in money on lended bonds to the government so the government can tax the people to make the bankers richer.  And im not talking about barclays or lloyds, im talking the bank of england, the American reserve, and all other national  banks owned by the rothschilds.

Funny, at first I thought they were after you for not paying the correct amount of tax (however inadvertently) but now I realise you were a helpless stooge in a Dan Brown novel.

Vin

[Frankybadboy]

ive twice claim for a push bike as i used it for collecting back in the day of collectting and alos for quoting on a evening 

and you can also claim mileage allowance on it as well

[Shane sharples]

Yes I do need my pub lunch everyday Coz I work , otherwise I'd be at home eating 16p noodles

[Marc Stock]

They are an evil organisation linked with the illuminati to bring in money on lended bonds to the government so the government can tax the people to make the bankers richer.  And im not talking about barclays or lloyds, im talking the bank of england, the American reserve, and all other national  banks owned by the rothschilds.

Funny, at first I thought they were after you for not paying the correct amount of tax (however inadvertently) but now I realise you were a helpless stooge in a Dan Brown novel.

Vin

Very funny vin.

Do some research on the Rothschilds and thier connections with the Banking System and Government and you'l have a different  sense of humour on the matter.

 

[8weekly]

You can claim for any expense incurred for the running and operation of your business - including work wear (ppe) regardless of whether it bears your logo or not. So long as your purchases are both genuine and economically justifiable then you'll have no issue.

Ild like to use your accountant if you think you can put clothes thru and its ok. That for sure is a loosing battle dispite how you want to argue it

So you don't think you can claim for waterproof boots?

https://www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed/clothing

Get a new accountant.

[Dave Willis]

Marc Stock - so what exactly did you do wrong?

[Shane sharples]

To be honest.  Salad Eater is going to like this..

Id speak to an accountant. I had a very bad experience with HMRC that lasted 5 years and resulted in me having to eventually go bankrupt.  Im discharged now for but its had a significant impact on my health i suffer with depression as a result

I was doing all my own books, tax returns etc etc. Got advice from websites, business owners and in all tense and purposes was foing what i thought was the right thing;  was making a lot of money  up until 2007 when the commercial work bottomed out i had to replace the work with domestic.

As a result my tax returns earnings dropped suddenly which triggred an alarm at HMRC and they did a tax investigation on me.

No worries i thought as i kept all my records accurately, how wrong was i?  My record keeping only sereved to incriminate me further, and HMRC took me to the cleaners with stuff i had no idea about. I thought i was going to get an extra £10k  bill from them i was so worried, plus my marrige was breaking down all at the same time (thats a different story though) i ended up with a £45k bill from them.

At that point no accountant would touch me and i was on my own. For the next few years i worked my butt off trying to pay it back but the interest was killing me, so i filed in 2014 and was discharged August last year.

Now i have a chartered accountant. Lesson learned.

(Anyone who now doesn't beleive me and thinks this is more BS They can check the official records office, stick that in yer pipe and smoke it)

How did they get the 45k figure? And how many years was that over? ( £4500 a year for ten years?)

[Marc Stock]

Marc Stock - so what exactly did you do wrong?

It was a combination of things really, long and short of it I claimed for stuff i thought i was entitled to, and kept recipts all above board but ended up owing about 20k over 4 years from 2004 till 2008 . I had employed people too on a self employed basis but as they didnt have any of their own customers i ended up owing ni on that too as hmrc said they were an employee. It got well messy tbh i could go on for ages. It was very stressfull and they were very unpleasant

By the time interest and late fees were added it was ballooning to £30k by the time i went bankrupt it was standing at £45k and i was paying every pound i had to try to clear it but when you get to a point were you owe so much with the interest and fees it becomes impossible to catch up with the payments as of course any money you make to make the payments are also taxable and it quickly spirals.

I took some legal advice and they said in 2 years id end up owing 80k if i didnt end it now and they will make me bankrupt under THEIR terms in which case they could slap a charging order on it for 15 years and im screwed.

So i did it myself, i tried an IVA first as per legal advice but they refused it (which is what i was expecting) but now they had refused the IVA i had a good enough cause for the bankruptcy.

Went to court in Guildford the judge sits you down in front of his desk, he looks through your pettition (which i had filled out by a lawyer) asks you why you want to be bankrupt, my reason was HMRC wont allow me to enter into an IVA to clear past debts so i have no choice.

He said ok no worries stamped the petition and declared me bankrupt in a loud voice my full name etc etc. And said have a nice day.

Cost £800
Legal advice £700

Done and dusted, mistakes learned move on.