Self Assessment Question

[Tallorder]

Hi, I have a question regarding my self assessment that I am going to submit tomorrow. I am a sole trader and run a very small business which involves me paying for large items from all over the UK to be transported to me and selling them online. I do not have a driving licence and never learned to drive due to health issues so I have to pay van men to collect the items for me and bring them to me. The problem I have is that I stupidly didn't get receipts from them and they never offered any to me so I thought just being honest and recording the amounts and dates of the payments made in cash would be enough. I have since read that this is not a wise thing to do.

I suspect that due to having no receipts I cannot claim the £6000ish in money I paid out for all of these items to be collected and will have to pay tax on it. Is this correct or is there a way that HMRC would understand that as I do not have the ability to drive then I obviously did pay out money to get all of these items to my location? The amounts are reasonable and usually average around £60 per trip with the highest amount being £160 which involved an item being collected from down near Cornwall and transported to me near London.

I am not earning much at all due to my poor health (just below the personal tax allowance if the van expenses are allowed) but if I cannot claim them then I will just remove all of the van man fees and pay tax on the lot even though it will be a struggle. I just wanted to be absolutely sure there was no way of including those expenses before submitting my tax return. I know it was stupid of me not to get receipts back when I first started and I make absolutely sure to get them now.

Thank you for any help you can offer.

[pawncob]

I like the "very small business" that incurs £6000 in delivery costs! It sounds like you can justify the costs even if you don't have receipts. I'd claim it as an expense.