Navy's handholding thread: Never done a tax return before! EEEKK

[navyeyelasH]

Ok I think I have found the definitive list of all the things I can claim against tax and I have all my receipts, so far so good.

However I can't register for HMRC to send me password and have to call them on Monday. I'm going to start doing my tax tonight as I am babysitting.

Can I make this my official tax Q&A thread please?

The first thing I need to know is what does the form look like, does it need to know detailed expenses like:
1st Jan £80 food
2nd Jan £10 food

or can you can you say:

Tax year food bill =s £100's?

Thanks!

I can't give you specific advice because I don't know all of the facts, but I would say that if you are using two of those rooms for private purposes during the week it is not reasonable to claim all of the costs for them. So if you used 3 rooms jsut for childminding in the week and 2 rooms for 8 hours childminding and 4 hours in the evening thats

3 x ( 1 / 8 ) + 2 x ( 1 / 8 ) x ( 8 / 12 ) = 54% use Mon-Fri. x the lot by 5/7 gives 38%.

Having said that I would be inclined to drop the downstairs toilet and any bathrooms out of the equation as these are only used incidentally.

So perhaps the calculation looks like:

2 x ( 1 / 6 ) + 2 x ( 1 / 6 ) x ( 8 / 12 ) = 56% use Mon-Fri. x the lot by 5/7 gives 39%.

That doesn't make a lot of difference, which is good because it shows that you haven't deliberately chosen a particular method jsut because it comes out with a more favourable result than other reasonable methods.

Goodness me I'm so glad I used an accountant!

I used the company www.onlychildminding....
They were fab and only charged £72 and that was deducted as an expense.
They gave me a really easy to understand set of insructions and for the last two years have sorted it all for me
Simple!

Mr A thanks so much for your help; that's all sorted then, went for the 38% option for safety's sake.

The downstairs toilet is used constantly as about half my children are out of nappies. It's such a bugger to clean! It was put in specifically for Cming to save traipsing up and down the stairs.

Still doing my return. Love a bit of last minute tax forms, feel the pressure!

mr anchovy - how would mine work? i DO claim the 33 percent light and heating as i work over 40+ hours.
i have a 3/4 bedroom semi, i use two reception rooms downstairs for 8 hours monday to friday for minding.....kitchen to but obviously we feed them lol.....how would i (if daring to go down that route) work out how much i could put through.

ps> for the job I have no payslips/p60s why do I multiply my Net income by 1.25 to give a gross figure?

MrAnchovy - Thanks for the mortgage interest advice. Fortunatly I had enough expenses this year to not have to pay tax, but i'll certainly be using it next year!

Did you get a P45 from your job?

My DH was both employed and self employed. Ticked the relevent boxes at the beginning of the form (yes he was employed and yes he was self employed). On the employment form, it was his figures from his P45 and self employed (CM) was just income and expenses figures. Once I submitted it, a neat little tax calculation came back to me.

Basic rate tax is gross pay x 0.2, not net pay x 0.2, so to get from net pay to tax you have to multiply by 1 / ( 1 - 0.2 ) = 1.25

Navy - probably too late now, but if you claim mortgage as an expense then when you sell your house you have to pay tax on it (capital gains?) its something about your house effectively becoming a business asset which you then have to pay tax on when you liquidate the asset. Thats why CMers are advised only to put rent down as an expense not their mortgage. :(

On a happier note, I was employed and self-employed last year, made a loss on the CMing and got a healthy tax rebate on what I'd paid as an employee. :) Hope you do too!

leeloo I read something that says that the whole CGT thing is not totally accurate. It's only if you use the rooms ONLy for business use that you become liable for CGT. Or something?

My tax brain has been turned off now for another year! Fingers crossed I do get a rebate!

hurrah that you've done it

well done young laydee x x x

leeloo that is not correct. As long as you only use part of your home part of the time for childminding, you do not lose your Principal Private Residence Relief. Make sure your family uses all rooms used for childminding in the evenings and/or weekends.

Grrrr... am annoyed if that is the case, as I was told otherwise and did my tax claim accordingly. :(

I wish it wasn't so complicated and that it was easier to get clear guidance!