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Use of home as office calculator©
Our use of home calculating tool is part of our Working from home toolkit.
It is designed for use by a self-employed person in order to calculate how much to claim as a tax deductible expense for working for home.
Warning:
Warning: expenses may be apportioned on different basis. This toolkit calculates expenses on the basis of number of rooms and hours. A different or perhaps a more accurate calculation may create a different result when taking into account actual usage and other factors as considered in the guide Working from home (self-employed). Use of rooms as a basis of apportionment may give you a skewed result if your office is small and other rooms large.
From April 2013 small businesses may claim a fixed rate deduction.
Calculation
Step 1 working hours
Step 1 total | Total hours |
For how many hours is your home used for your business each day? |
Step 2 working rooms
Step 2 totals | Number |
A. How many rooms are there in your house | |
B. How many rooms do you wholly for your business | |
C. How many rooms have split use |
Step 3 working costs
Add up you costs:
Fixed costs |
£ |
Mortgage interest or rent | |
Council tax | |
Water rates | |
Insurance | |
Broadband | |
Total | |
Variable costs |
£ |
Electricity | |
Gas | |
Repairs and maintenance | |
Cleaning | |
Total |
Calculation
Full-time workers
If your total at Step 1 is more than 7 hours (assuming that you work from home full-time)
Take the combined
totals from Step 3 and divide by Step 2 A, then multiply by (B + 1/2 x C)
Where you are also using rooms privately - say at weekends or in the evening you should consider restricting the claim proportionately.
Part-timers
If you are not working full time from home you may need to restrict your claim if you are not using rooms wholly or exclusively for the business. This calculation time apportions the claim over 24 hours. It may be more beneficial to work out usage on an expense by expense basis, see Working from home (self-employed)
If your total at Step 1 is less than 7 hours:
Take the combined totals from Step 3 and divide by Step 2 A, then multiply by (B + 1/2 x C). Multiply the result by your total hours at Step 1 and divide by 24.
Note on expenses
Telephone costs are not included in this calculation as it is assumed that the business would either support a dedicated phone line or that any claim for the use of a private be claimed separately based on actual use.
Minor use of home
According to its manuals HMRC will not challenge reasonable claims when there is minor use of home. It seems reasonable therefore to assume that rather than attempt a calculation HMRC will allow at least the same allowance that HMRC allows employees who are homeworking. This amounts to £3 per week for home working for 2011/12, and £4 per week from 2012/13. This is non-statutory.
Flat rate/fixed rate claim
From April 2013 you may claim a fixed rate for use of home. The rate applicable is based on your calculation of the number of hours that you work at any homes "wholly and exclusively" for the
purposes of the trade.
No of hours worked per month |
Amount per month |
25 to 50 |
£10 |
51 to 100 |
£18 |
101 + |
£26 |
See our: Flat rate expenses or actual cost toolkit
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