Percentage of Utilities help(self-employed)

[MsFett]

Hi

I am work as freelance artist.I have an agent. I work on average 9 hours per day 6 days a week. Some weeks only 5 days.

I have a two bedroom house, one living room, one kitchen,one bathroom, utilities room. I use a computer, the internet. I currently worked out internet at 50% for business and rent/utilities at 20%. My friend thinks I have done this wrong and my 20% should be higher

My workspace is not in a dedicated room, I mainly use half my bedroom, storage also in the utilities room and sometimes the kitchen table.

It is all very confusing, I'm not earning a great deal, so it seems silly to pay over the odds for an accountant. Although it seems I may have to get one.


Thanks for any replies

[nikkisizer]

Hi MsFett,

As you work from home you can claim the business proportion of your costs by either dividing your costs by the number of rooms you use for business or the amount of time you spend working from home.

If you do not wish to do this you can claim simplified expenses which are flat rates allowable by HMRC but if you mainly work from home it is normally beneficial to use the first option mentioned above.

If you are not aware of what you can and cannot claim for then it is worth paying the fee for an Accountant as in most circumstances what they will save you will outweigh the fee by far.

Happy to help if required so if you need any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.