CM, What do you put against your Tax

Can I put down all the booze I had in the evenings (prior to current condition) - it was the job that drove me to it.....honest!!!

Katy - I was only going to look into the car thing, I'm pretty sure it would be a right PITA and best to just do mileage still? As for food, I'd love to do that but I don't meal plan atm so suppose I can't do the same.

at your Income v's profit!

I would be careful about the car - take some professional advise - it normally works out about the same, unless you do very high or very low mileage

My income last year was £52K & my profit was £4700 - so I am not the right person to ask

Food I 'charge' the IR a set amount for meals based on the children due (so if they are off sick I still charge as I bought the food for them) - I use a meal/snack rate for different ages under 1, under 5, under 8 & over 8

Katy - yeah, I already had injections done so wasn't planning on claiming them but the worming and flee stuff I didn't until I started so can I claim for that? As for food, I work out every single item on the supermarket shop and judge how much is for childminding.

Shosh - I don't put petrol on, just put mileage down. I must say, I was wondering what to do about the car when it comes to that bit. I bought my 7-seater in Feb 07 and it's purely for childminding.

If my INCOME for the last tax year was a bit under £15k, how much would you expect to pay for tax, at a total guess of course as we all have different expenses.

How do you work out your food?

Mileage is at 40p

Toilet rool/bleach/kitchen roll/lightbulbs?

I claim worming but not the cat injections as I already had them done, & also for de-flea-ing

have you made sure you have put every bit of petrol on it, i find that my travel costs bring alot of it down. But then I have to drive to school everyday.

Seriously though, I meant things like worming etc - it's not a lot but I didn't used to do that before childminding but I know they have to be done when c/m so just wondered if could claim for any part? Desperate to reduce my bill as looking like it's going to be high and I didn't have to pay last year!

Of course......to get them de-fleed etc

You have your mindees seen by a vet ????????????????? strange woman

What about vets fees for things you HAVE to do for childminding - can a % be claimed?

Cheers

i got a contract phone for childminding and put the fixed rental as expenses and i used the addedd texts and calls only for buisness and paid the extra out of my pocket.

Your right i did lovie, but not cos of anything to do with Cming

Cheers Nick, will have a think as we did once talk about going to just mobile and getting rid of our land line but then I thought we HAD to have an active landline if childminding (can't remember though).

Rose - think shosh had lots of messages withdrawn in the early days for her own reasons. Nothing to do with this thread I don't think

Why were all Shosha's messages withdrawn on this?????????

HMRC Childminders Expenses says "actual cost of telephone use for childminding purposes" so if the phone was EXCLUSIVELY used for childminding purposes, I think you could claim the line rental. You may need to prove it was all Childminding usage though - so better being a contract mobile, or extra landline.

cheers dmo. anyone know for sure?

its a good queistion i'm thinking why not?

Just bumping this up in case others need a refresher of what we can claim

Also, I wondered if anyone could answer this for me.......as we legally have to have a working phone in the house (sure I was told a land line but I may be wrong), can we claim for the cost of the line rental? I know we can claim for calls relating to childminding but just wondered about the rental?

TIA

Hi thanks yes that's an idea. I have no actual receipt for the Net use though. I'm on a fixed offer for 12months. I guess the initial agreement would help as a receipt?
Cheers

Quote from Help Sheet IR222

Broadly speaking you can deduct from your turnover all the costs you incur for the sole purpose of earning business profits. But you can not deduct costs which you incur for a non business purpose such as your own personal expenses or drawings. And you cannot deduct capital costs, that is the cost of buying fixed assets or intangibles such as goodwill, which last for several years....etc But you may be able to claim capital allowances on these capital costs.

The notes on self employment box 3.51 disallowable expenses says you own employment costs can not be included as an expense.

Shosha - Q to you & anyone else re internet costs?
I pay a set monthly fee (broadband) I use my internet regularly for my work (daily maybe)but not sure what percentage I should claim, or all of it? (costs £15 a month)
Do you claim the total cost for a printer ink? (partly for personal but say mainly for business)
Cheers

you have to think self employed and not compare benefits to an employed person.

Money to cover holidays is not tax deductable, the paid hoildays that employees get is paid by the company they work for.

Any other sole trader cannot claim loss off earnings due to taking holidays. I would seriously check this and get the name of the tax inspector who said you could add this.