Business Finances - Expenses

Many self-employed businesses are run from home which means that if there wasn't a procedure involved in tackling how those businesses were taxed they'd be taxed in precisely the same way as another business which has to pay for it's premises and other costs which is slightly unfair to those working from home.

If a business is at home then often many business owned thing will be used personally as well, for example someones bedroom could also be their office space when working. It is up to the business owner to divide the usage up and work out how much of it is used by the business and how much it is used personally, if they're using their phone for both business and personal but 20% of the time the calls are personal then around 80% of the bill is a business expense that can be included within the businesses outgoings.

As I will be running my business from the comfort of my home I can claim certain expenses from that. I know that a majority of the time I'll be using my home internet and phone bill for personal use to I've dedicated around 10% of the bill as an expense to my business. As my business grows this may increase but for now it's a deducted cost that allows for the business to pay for whatever is being used by the business.

The types of things that can be claimed as expenses included:

• Heating
• Electricity
• Council Tax
• Mortgage interest or rent
• Internet and telephone use