uk tax return - Partly allowable business expenses Thread poster: Nathalie Coutelle
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Nathalie Coutelle 
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Member (2008)
English to French
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I would like to know if UK translators declare as expenses a percentage of their internet, telephone, electricity, gaz bills, rent, council tax ? If so, what percentage?
Many thanks
| | | | Karen Stokes
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Member (2003)
French to English
Hi Nathalie,
My business phone line / internet access etc. are separate from the home ones, so the costs of those are entered into my books in full. My accountant then enters a (fairly nominal) fixed annual sum to cover "use of home" rather than calculating percentages of actual bills and this has always been accepted by the tax authorities.
Best,
Karen
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I went to an Inland Revenue seminar when I first started and they said that you could claim all of your internet-related costs as it was too difficult to separate private from work use.
With respect to gas/electricity etc., you designate one room as your office, you count the rooms in your house, then divide your bills by this number and enter this amount. This is what my tax adviser tells me to do and, together with the above, I've had my figures accepted so far.
I am howeve... See more I went to an Inland Revenue seminar when I first started and they said that you could claim all of your internet-related costs as it was too difficult to separate private from work use.
With respect to gas/electricity etc., you designate one room as your office, you count the rooms in your house, then divide your bills by this number and enter this amount. This is what my tax adviser tells me to do and, together with the above, I've had my figures accepted so far.
I am however registered as a sole trader and my accounts are very simple.
You can always contact the Revenue people directly, they are actually very helpful and approachable. Don't just cross your fingers and hope for the best. As I said, they also run free training seminars.
Good luck.
Suzi ▲ Collapse
| | | | | HMRC calculation | Jan 7, 2010 |
Hi there
I spoke to the HMRC a couple of months ago and they gave me the following calculation.
Rent + Council Tax + Bills (not including internet)
Add all these expenses together for the 12 month Tax Year period.
How many rooms are there in your house not including bathroom and hallways?
(For example, 4)
How many rooms do you use to work in? (For example, 1)
So you can deduct 1/4 of all those expenses from your gross income.
<... See more Hi there
I spoke to the HMRC a couple of months ago and they gave me the following calculation.
Rent + Council Tax + Bills (not including internet)
Add all these expenses together for the 12 month Tax Year period.
How many rooms are there in your house not including bathroom and hallways?
(For example, 4)
How many rooms do you use to work in? (For example, 1)
So you can deduct 1/4 of all those expenses from your gross income.
Internet connection should be calculated based on how many hours you use it for work and how many hours for personal use. So I guess this would be between 8-10 hours a day.
This calculation seems fairly straightforward, and as I said, it was a tax advisor from the HMRC who spelled this calculation out very carefully to me a couple of months ago. My problem is that I share accommodation, so essentially I pay for 1 room and use 1 room for office space, so should I assume that I can deduct 100% as expenses?!!? Seems to follow logically...
Perhaps someone can help with my query: I travel to Italy and Spain regularly searching for new clients (but don't always find them). Can I deduct my travel expenses? i.e. flights, train tickets? ▲ Collapse
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Alison MacG
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
German to English
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I asked that too and apparently it's dodgy ground. It really must be for business and demonstrably so. I do however claim for any reference/text books I buy out there but not sadly for Montalbano.
Oh and there really is no such thing as a free lunch; you can claim breakfast and dinner but not lunch.
Frances, thanks for a far clearer explanation of the room maths.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| My accountant says | Jan 7, 2010 |
Nathalie Coutelle wrote:
I would like to know if UK translators declare as expenses a percentage of their internet, telephone, electricity, gaz bills, rent, council tax ? If so, what percentage?
Many thanks
I have a letter from my accountant advising me that so long as these costs can reasonably be said to be essential for the conduction of my business, then a percentage should be deducted as non-taxable expenses, and he adds that he has never encountered any opposition to this view.
It is your own responsibility, bearing in mind that at some might you might be investigated, that the proportion you establish is done on a reasonable basis bearing in mind who else, if anyone, is using these services, the size of your house vs. the size of your workspace etc.
In my own case I keep a written note of how I have calculated these percentages, and I keep it on file along with my accounts. I review this percentage on an annual basis.
However your best plan would be not to take a guess at it, but to obtain documentary evidence that you have consulted an accountant on this matter.
| | | | Nathalie Coutelle
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Member (2008)
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks so much for all these very useful posts !
Nathalie
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Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Flemish to English
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| Extra tax-deduction. | Jan 7, 2010 |
Does anyone knows whether the cost of an interpreter training (Westminster=£6500 or Leeds £4000 or anywhere else in Europe) is tax-deductible?
Suppose you translate/interpret from say Japanese to English or Chinese to English
To keep up with your Japanese you are obliged to fly to Japan/China every time you can find a time to do so. Of course, you go in business class with British Airways or Virgin (expensive airlines).
Is the price of that ticket tax-deductible? Or am I o... See more Does anyone knows whether the cost of an interpreter training (Westminster=£6500 or Leeds £4000 or anywhere else in Europe) is tax-deductible?
Suppose you translate/interpret from say Japanese to English or Chinese to English
To keep up with your Japanese you are obliged to fly to Japan/China every time you can find a time to do so. Of course, you go in business class with British Airways or Virgin (expensive airlines).
Is the price of that ticket tax-deductible? Or am I on dodgy ground as mentioned above?
<
[Edited at 2010-01-07 14:17 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Asked HMRC this one as well! | Jan 7, 2010 |
Williamson wrote:
Does anyone knows whether the cost of an interpreter training (Westminster=£6500 or Leeds £4000 or anywhere else in Europe) is tax-deductible?
Suppose you translate/interpret from say Japanese to English or Chinese to English
To keep up with your Japanese you are obliged to fly to Japan/China every time you can find a time to do so. Of course, you go in business class with British Airways or Virgin (expensive airlines).
Is the price of that ticket tax-deductible? Or am I on dodgy ground as mentioned above?
<
[Edited at 2010-01-07 14:17 GMT]
This is something that I was convinced would be deductible but it is not. The tax office takes the view that if you did not know these languages in the first place you wouldn't have been able to work in them, but given that you have been working with these languages, you don't need to "improve" or "refresh". It's a little irritating as this is perhaps one of the main reasons we keep going back to the countries whose language we work with and it is for business purposes. In fact, they told me that the only reason you could claim for flights was by going somewhere to do a specific job or looking for clients, but as Susanna says, it probably needs to be clearly documented and when you are looking for clients, you don't always have the proof that's what you were doing there.
As far as courses go, again this is something which should be deductible, but it's not always. Well, if you have never worked as an interpreter before and you needed this to begin, then I imagine it is deductible, but I am not allowed to deduct my MA in Translation Studies as it is something I am doing alongside working as a translator and, again, the tax office takes the view that if I am already working as a translator, then I don't need to do an MA.
Hope this helps a bit.
PS I agree with Tom's suggestion that if you get an accountant to do the accounts, then they are certified and the tax office can see that they've been done by a professional.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Frances Leggett wrote:
I agree with Tom's suggestion that if you get an accountant to do the accounts, then they are certified and the tax office can see that they've been done by a professional.
Frances, actually I do my own accounts (having learned how to do double-entry bookkeeping and how to file receipts, invoices, etc) but I do have a friendly accountant whom I can consult from time to time when I need advice.
| | | | Claire Cox
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
French to English
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| Capital gains | Jan 7, 2010 |
My accountant has always advised me against assigning one entire room solely as my office on the grounds that you would theoretically be liable for capital gains tax if and when you come to sell up (assuming you own your house rather than rent, that is). I therefore say that I use 80% (or some such nominal figure) of my office for business use and the rest for home use of the internet, children's homework, dog's bedroom, etc. It makes the calculations slightly more complicated, but I always keep... See more My accountant has always advised me against assigning one entire room solely as my office on the grounds that you would theoretically be liable for capital gains tax if and when you come to sell up (assuming you own your house rather than rent, that is). I therefore say that I use 80% (or some such nominal figure) of my office for business use and the rest for home use of the internet, children's homework, dog's bedroom, etc. It makes the calculations slightly more complicated, but I always keep my calculations and notes as Tom does and haven't had any problems so far.
Claire ▲ Collapse
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Williamson
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:43
Flemish to English
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| Show me the way. | Jan 7, 2010 |
Frances Leggett wrote: Williamson wrote:
Does anyone knows whether the cost of an interpreter training (Westminster=£6500 or Leeds £4000 or anywhere else in Europe) is tax-deductible?
Suppose you translate/interpret from say Japanese to English or Chinese to English
To keep up with your Japanese you are obliged to fly to Japan/China every time you can find a time to do so. Of course, you go in business class with British Airways or Virgin (expensive airlines).
Is the price of that ticket tax-deductible? Or am I on dodgy ground as mentioned above?
<
[Edited at 2010-01-07 14:17 GMT] This is something that I was convinced would be deductible but it is not. The tax office takes the view that if you did not know these languages in the first place you wouldn't have been able to work in them, but given that you have been working with these languages, you don't need to "improve" or "refresh". It's a little irritating as this is perhaps one of the main reasons we keep going back to the countries whose language we work with and it is for business purposes. In fact, they told me that the only reason you could claim for flights was by going somewhere to do a specific job or looking for clients, but as Susanna says, it probably needs to be clearly documented and when you are looking for clients, you don't always have the proof that's what you were doing there. As far as courses go, again this is something which should be deductible, but it's not always. Well, if you have never worked as an interpreter before and you needed this to begin, then I imagine it is deductible, but I am not allowed to deduct my MA in Translation Studies as it is something I am doing alongside working as a translator and, again, the tax office takes the view that if I am already working as a translator, then I don't need to do an MA. Hope this helps a bit. PS I agree with Tom's suggestion that if you get an accountant to do the accounts, then they are certified and the tax office can see that they've been done by a professional.
To do a specific job. Hmm...
This knowledge comes in handy for interpreting assignments, because in the case of interpreting, you go to a specific place to do a specific job (interpreting). A P.O. and your invoice are proof of that. Often principals prefer people living in country XYZ,because they do not want to pay travel costs, but if these are tax-deductible, one can be flexible with regard to those costs.
A conference interpreting training with ACCC-languages takes up a full-time schedule and is not something which you can do alongside.
HMRC shows the way to go .
| | | | | Get some pro help... | Sep 13, 2010 |
Nathalie Coutelle wrote:
I would like to know if UK translators declare as expenses a percentage of their internet, telephone, electricity, gaz bills, rent, council tax ? If so, what percentage?
Many thanks
Nathalie,
I own a small little translation business that operates a little into the European market....
I've found it's just best to employ a decent, reputable company when dealing with such complicated matters. There are a lot of VAT specialist companies out there, some good. some bad. I'm speaking from experience.
I've used Accordance who specialise in the likes of overseas taxing consultancy and income tax reporting. They will save you lots of time i'm sure.
John~
| | | | | Work related training | Sep 12, 2012 |
I would say that the reality for claiming training as tax deductible is the opposite as what has been mentioned, from what I can gather, CPD, as in training that is to continue on your professional development, building on skills that are "wholly and entirely" necessary for your progression, ARE tax deductible, but that if you decide to do something completely different, that is NOT tax deductible. That is what I have found out so far, various pages have confirmed this.
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