Visit from the Tax Lady.

I've been in business for just over a year now, and in a fit of
enthusiasm, I put my name down for numerous courses/events ran by HMRC.

Due to their popularity, I had around a 6 month wait to get on one. The
lady from HMRC rang me to check that I was attending, we then had a
general chat about what it involved etc, she thought this course would
be a waste of time for me, as it was very basic, and only really covered
filling in a self assessment form.
So, she said how about a 1 to 1 meeting, and we can sort out any queries
you have.
Ok, that day was today, and my eyes have been opened.
I use my (cheap) van for a fairly low mileage, so have been told to
claim 40p/mile rather than add up the cost of all the petrol/spares etc.
Doing it this way will gain me around £1000 allowance.

I cant claim for my clothes, which get ruined in quick time, but I can
claim up to £10 a week for using my house to store odds and sods.

For cash takings, I just put a note in a notebook, apparently this is
not good enough, so I must make a proper invoice out for such amounts,
and file them with all my other (account) invoices.

There were a number of other small allowances that I was informed I can
use, so overall, I'm going to be quite a bit better off than I was this
morning.
Which is a result I think.

She also gave me an insight into a few other things - my window cleaner
is always complaining about HMRC investigating him - he is a sole trader
with a low income. He employs an Accountant to sort his books - she says
it would be employing an accountant  (amongst other things) that makes
them take note of his returns - she said if he is on a low wage, with
very few expenses, then why would he need to employ an accountant?
Hence they think he may not be declaring all of his takings, (which may
or may not be true, though he denies it all).

After the bashing of the HMRC staff on here over the last year, I was
quite surprised to get such helpful advice.
Alan.



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