CM, What do you put against your Tax

[shosha]

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And if we can ofset against Tax for a cleaner to clean minded areas, do we have to have a receipt of somesort? Most cleaners are cash in hand arn't they, so that would be a problem I think...

a hand written receipt would be fine - tho that does depend whether they are claiming themselves otherwise they wouldnt want to do receipts!The lady I am getting is paid cash but shes above board so will be fine to do me receipts

photo development
hire of carpet cleaner
professional sofa clean/carpet clean
washing tablets (1 per week ish)
spare parts for hoover that broke
car seats/pushchairs/other child equipment
clothes bought for work
spare clothes/wellies/rain gear bought for kids
prac prof childcare mag
mobile phone contract (% of)
stationary
smoke alarms/carbon monoxide alarms
boiler service costs

well i thought i was going to get a bill to pay in april, but it seems i wont have to pay anything till sept so i bought dd an in car dvd player at weekend for when we travel to dp's sisters and when we go on hol in aug..she lurves it but all we get now is high school musical on dvd and cd now! and i still have plenty there to add more too each week!..felt very proud i have all money and stuff sorted as im not normally good at that stuff

just rang IR and was told that what i was doing was ok and an acceptable cost. If i was working in an office i would be paid for any holiday i take - generally upto 4 weeks. So as im dont get paid via parents then it is a cost for me to take my holiday IYSWIM. Soapbox, im not diddling my accounts and have only done what i was told was acceptable, you were a bit harsh in your reply! Was also told i can claim 30% of the cost of our 2nd family car which i sometimes use for short journeys when i only have 2 or 3 children, cant claim petrol on that car though as claim petrom on my 8 seater BUT it does mean another £300 off my profit!
Am having laminate put down in house too and can claim 30% of the cost for that to as being doen to make life easier when minding. Also claimed cost of new conservatory last year as it is a play room and storgae room.

not whole cost of conservatory though think it was 40%

Bonkerz - remember when you sell your house you need to declare the "profit" that adding the conservatory on to you house causes the house price to increase - this is for capitol gains tax purposes. It's the reason I didn't claim against my conservatory as I couldn't be sure of remaining in my house long enough (iyswim)

BTW i WORKED FOR THE ir & i HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THE ARRANGEMNT YOU EXPLAINED (opps sorry for shouting)- In fact the info Soapbox stated is how I an ex IR employee would understand the situation - I would urge you to get it in writing from the IR (they are renound for changing thier minds I speak from experience "from the other end of the phone" so to speak)

My parents run a large business and my Mum says that when you ring the IR you mostly just get an office person who is there to answer general queries. Often they do not have the correct information and in this case I am sure this is not right.

Self employed people can not claim for the cost of not working and self employed people have no automatic right to holiday, paid or otherwise.

Bonkerz - harsh??????

It was completely factual? Totally non-emotive?

I don't care what your IR contact has told you - it is not a valid business expense!

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.

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

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

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.

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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

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

its a good queistion i'm thinking why not?

cheers dmo. anyone know for sure?

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Cheers