Claiming home costs, have I got this right?

[Cogcog]

I did a measure up of the rooms as I have 2 large offices downstairs and some small bedrooms upstairs to calculate my %. The offices are the same size as all of the bedrooms put together.

I then did a log of when we were in/out to calculate the % I should claim on heating and lighting as both of us work in the business and the offices are in use all day every day by my partner even if I am out and about.

Both of these are probably more detailed than HMRC expect and probably not how they prefer but I wanted to have a basis for claiming, which I knew would be more costly than a simple adding up of room numbers.

As we have been in this situation for the past 7 years (limited Co) I do claim all the maintenance costs of decoration, refurbishment etc. of the 2 rooms. A few years ago after an uninsured flood the one office had to be replastered, the floor repaired and the fireplace replaced. I have a similar uninsured/unwarranted damp problem in office 2 which I will do next year.

I have tended not to apportion exterior maintenance (painting window frames, roof repairs and repointing brick work) as that might be a bridge too far.

[Eric Mc]

If you can justify it - make the claim.

[jon-]

Eric Mc said:

If you can justify it - make the claim.

If you make the claim on the grounds you think you can justify it, but then in a subsequent investigation HMRC don't fully agree with you are they likely to fine you or just ask for the tax back?

[Eric Mc]

jon- said:

Eric Mc said:

If you can justify it - make the claim.

If you make the claim on the grounds you think you can justify it, but then in a subsequent investigation HMRC don't fully agree with you are they likely to fine you or just ask for the tax back?

If HMRC decide you have overclaimed expenses, then the logical conclusion is that you will have underpaid tax for the relevant tax year.

They will definitely ask for the underpaid tax to be paid up.

They will charge interest on the underpaid tax because you will not have cleared the correct tax liability by the payment due date.

They MIGHT charge penalties depending on how blatant they feel you were in making excessive claims and depending on how co-operative you were during the subsequent enquiry.

[jon-]

That sounds fair and reasonable, thanks.

[Eric Mc]

It is - but it can add up if they decide to investigate you six years after you started making the claims. Six years of back tax and related interest and penalties can work out expensive.

[amirzed]

had an investigation recently, the HMRC guy said a rate of £20 per week would generally regarded as 'ok' - although i'm not sure whether he was referring to him or the HMRC in general....

[otolith]

Last time I looked into this, there was a rate which could be used instead of calculating bills for heating and lighting - not much, something like three quid a week.