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How much rent can I claim against tax as a home worker?

Hi,

I know this topic probably has been covered a million times but I've tried searching through previous posts and I can't find a clear answer.

So here goes:

I'm currently self-employed working from home in a one bed flat that I rent. At the moment I'm using a desk in my bedroom as my office and would like to instead rent a two bed flat so I could use one of the rooms solely as an office to give me back some living space. However, I could only really afford this if I could claim some of the rent back against tax. If the two bed flat costs me around £180 per week how much of this could I realistically claim against my tax? Is there are formula for this.

Some people have said that the maximum I could claim would be about £10 per week, but that seems very low to me.

I'd be really grateful if anyone at all could give me some help on this.

Thanks, Nigel

Reply to
Nigel
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"John Pointon" wrote

Wouldn't he then be at risk of Business Rates being applicable?

Reply to
Tim

The 10 *limit* is not relevant here. It normally applies where the property is owned/mortgaged, and thus only the extra heating, lighting etc claim - and being careful over the CGT implications of exclusive room use.

In your circumstance, a proportion of the rent is tax deductible - usually computed on a room basis (ignoring bathrooms, WCs and hallways) - for exclusive business use of a room(s).

Therefore, using a bedroom exclusively for business, with two other relevant rooms, would entitle you to claim 1/3 of the rent plus 1/3 of the other household expenses. CGT unlikely to be relevant.

You may need to check out the insurance and business rates implications. And your tenancy agreement may preclude business use - usually not a problem unless complaints arise from neighbours over noise, extra traffic etc.

Reply to
Doug Ramage

Hi,

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I really appreciate it.

Just to clear up some issues. The property would be rented - I wouldn't have a mortgage on it. Also I work as a technical writer, so I'm unlikely to get complaints from neighbours or other folk about using the property for business purposes and I spend 99% of my time working at home therefore the room would be in constant use as an office.

Would this mean I could actually claim a third of the rent and a third of household expenses?

On the other hand if I was to stay in my current rented property and continue using my bedroom as an office during the day should I be able to claim more than the £10 per week that some people have said? Or is that the limit because it's in use only part time as an office.

Again, thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me.

Nigel

Reply to
Nigel

Yes.

Forget the ludicrous £10 a week figure. If it's a one bedroom flat with basically two rooms (in the same way a 2-bedroom flat has three rooms), then you should apportion the bedroom's use between business and private. It would seem reasonable to say that the room is used half for sleeping and half for working, and therefore you should be able to claim a quarter of rent and other expenses as being business-related.

Reply to
Ronald Raygun

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