If you work from home in the UK, you may be entitled to claim a proportion of expenses to help you with your various running costs. I like to see people who become self-employed make the most of the various benefits that are on offer to them; after all, it is hard enough taking this route as it is – so anything that makes the process that little bit simpler has my vote!
However, the number of self-employed workers in the UK who do not have any idea of their entitlement is worrying. I cannot stress enough the importance of arming yourself with all the available information beforehand on what you can and can’t claim when you register as self-employed. It therefore may come as a surprise to some then, if they haven’t got around to doing this, as there are a few expenses that they may now have been entitled to claim for some time!
There is one area that I want to concentrate on which I believe could give a little bit back to those UK workers who choose to make their home their work place.
Working from Home Costs Money!
I initially started out working from home in the very early stages when starting my business. I took this option because it was simply the easier option at that time. Unlike today, where one could just go to the homepage of Compare Internet (or similar companies of equal caliber) and explore the internet options that they have, those days, such resources were also limited. I had given up working for someone else and was in the process of looking at a place to home my new venue. However, because I was in between the two it seemed easier and cheaper to work from a desk at home until everything was finalised. Similarly, if you do find yourself having to work from home the cost of basic furnishings like a desk and a good quality office chair might be expensive. After potentially sourcing office items from companies similar to office monster or another reliable online retailer, you could be entitled to claim the money back from your company as extra expenses.
Though I was only working at home for a short space of time, I quickly came to see that by choosing this route, you still have to consider a number of other bills to be factored in when you make this decision. Working from the home is not cost free – although many people might have you believe that it is! Business owners have to provide communication avenues to ensure their workforce remains in contact with one another regardless of being miles apart. With this in mind, you may wish to find out more about Gamma’s Hosted Phone System online if your business operates remotely.
Claiming Expenses When Working from Home
Currently those registered and working from home in the UK can claim for the following expenses:
- Using part of your home as your office.
- A proportion of your rent, rates, utility bills, security and property insurance bills.
A variety of stationery costs including phone bills, printing and internet costs.
For more detailed information on what you can claim in the UK, take a look at the following website https://www.gov.uk/browse/business to make sure you are accessing your entitlement.
