Simplified deductions where your business is based at home

Many small businesses are run from home. Where a business is run from home, household costs will be incurred which are attributable to the business. These may include additional costs of gas and electricity to provide heat and light to the home office or workshop and to power the computer or equipment, the costs of additional cleaning, and suchlike.

Expenses which are wholly and exclusively incurred for the purposes of the business can be deducted in working out the profits of the business. This will inevitably involve a certain amount of record keeping in order to identify what those expenses are. As far as household bills are concerned, it is permissible to deduct a proportion of the total household expenses in computing the business profits, with the apportionment being made on a ‘just and reasonable’ basis.

Claim simplified expenses instead

Businesses can save themselves the hassle of working out the proportion of household costs that relate to the business by instead using HMRC’s simplified expenses to claim a deduction for the costs of working from home. The deduction is a set amount per month, depending on the number of hours worked at home on the business each month. The hours include not only hours worked by the proprietor, but also hours worked in the home by any staff.

The monthly deduction is shown in the table below.

The simplified expenses do not cover telephone and internet costs, in respect of which a separate deduction can be claimed.

Example

Luke is self-employed as a graphic designer. He runs his business from his house.

He normally works at home for 120 hours a month, except in August when he works 20 hours and December when he works 60 hours. He is able to claim a deduction for the year of £288 (being 10 months @ £26, one month @ £10 and one month @ £18).

Actual or simplified?

While claiming a deduction based on simplified expenses is a lot less hassle, it may not necessarily give the greatest deduction. Where the trader thinks the time spent working out a deduction based on actual costs is worthwhile, only they can decide.