protective clothing and laundry

Keep your receipts. If the item are used exclusively for work, you can claim it all. Just add up the total and put it on your tax return (or give the total to your accountant).

As much as you spend

Again, if it is used exclusively for work, yes.

If it is all the same sort of stuff.

I may be corrected but I believe that, as the machines are used for personal laundry, you may not claim anything. If you had a washing machine in a worshop or used a laundry service and it was clear that there was no "personal use" then you could claim.

Nothing. It is not reasonable to apportion small amounts of electricity in this way.

You must beware that, should your accounts show large, unreasonable or unusual (i.e. very different to last year) amounts, questions will be asked.

LOL that's what happens when you ask the same question in two different newsgroups, you get two completely opposite answers. For completeness I append my posting below, and it's not electric he's claiming for it's water. I agree with you it isn't worth bothering with.

"The case of Mallalieu v Drummond [1983] 57TC330 (which is discussed in detail below) established that no deduction is available under Case I/II Schedule D for the costs of clothing which forms part of an ?everyday' wardrobe. This remains so even where the taxpayer can show that they only wear such clothing in the course of their profession. It is irrelevant that the person chooses not to wear the clothing in question on non-business occasions, the only question is whether the clothing might suitably be worn as part of a hypothetical person's ?everyday' wardrobe.

"Most professionals have to keep up appearances but their clothing costs are not allowable (even where they amount to a quasi uniform as in Mallalieu).

The cost of clothing that is not part of an ?everyday' wardrobe (for example a nurse's uniform or evening dress (?tails') worn by a professional waiter) faces no such bar to deduction.

You should therefore allow a deduction for protective clothing and uniforms."

...from this link...

Nothing.

No.

Irrelevant but nice to see you are preparing *proper* accounts :)

Nothing.

Work out the actual cost and yes IMHO that would allowable.

If you were a builder your boots would be allowable but I don't see it "washing" with a window cleaner. There are no hard and fast rules as you can see from the link, each case is judged on its merits.

What people like yourself miss when they skimp on an accountant is the overview.

Certainly it is important to make sure every allowable expense is included in the accounts - in yours I'd expect:

MOTOR EXPENSES If you use a car hopefully you have been keeping a detailed log and can take advantage of the generous options at:

WIFES WAGES Have a read of this:

TELEPHONE Most accountants err on the generous side with apportioning telephone costs, at least 50% as Business.

BANK INTEREST AND CREDIT CARD CHARGES ...if you have business accounts.

PRINTING, STATIONARY Lump these sort of items together estimated £3 a week or whatever.

As I said, what you are missing is the overview. A good chartered accountant will look you up and down in the same way your GP does, he will look at how much you spend on your clothes, what car you drive, where you live, how much council tax you pay, how many kids you have, he will come to a mental picture of how much all that cost and it is one helluva lot!

He'll look at your bank statements, what you started with, what you finished with, where the money went.

And that is the absolute minimum you *must* have earned. If your accounts say differently then they are lying and he will reject them and amend them. In doing that he is protecting you from the Tax Inspector who will do exactly the same thing a year from now at considerable discomfort to yourself.

dp is right, don't let anything stick out in these accounts, don't be too greedy, it doesn't usually pay off.

In message of Tue, 5 Oct 2004, Troy Steadman writes

^^^^^^^^^^^ He just stays in one place does he? Without moving about!

;-)

DF

"Troy Steadman" wrote