Issues on working from home.

Anyone,I am going to set up a home business soon in the next 4 weeks, please tell me where to go to get my business name done? Are the home expenses part of the tax deductions, including phone calls, electricity,furnitures,petrol......? thank you!

 

You say "petrol" which tells me you may not be in the US. Where are you looking to form your company as that makes a big difference.

 

I can't help you with the business name question but I'll have a pop at helping with expenses.

If you can afford an accountant get one, generally a good one will save you more money than they cost. Keep all receipts always; I offset some personal purchases that can be classed (okay look like to the taxman) as business expense, consumables like ink, photo paper are good examples of this (I’ve been known to offset Christmas presents, who wants a paper shredder for Xmas ).

It’s possible to offset a percentage of bills (gas and electricity) though I don’t know exact percentages, either ask an accountant or your local tax office or website. In the UK it is possible and legal to pay rent for a home office in your house, I opted out of this as I’d be paying myself to avoid my business paying tax but it would mean I’d have another personal income which would be taxable, which just seemed to be a non beneficial headache.

Good luck with your venture.

 

By the way Chance4me, stop spamming the forum. Your first question was a good one, why are you cut and paste spamming rather than coming back to have a discussion?

 

I guess he thinks spamming is really going to pay off and will allow him to work from home.

Good luck buddy!

 

Since this guy only wants to Spam, I will answer the question anyway for anyone in Ireland that is looking to set up a company.

Ireland is actually one of the easiest countries to do this in and it only takes about 30 minutes. All you have to do is download an application from www.cro.ie, fill it out, and bring it to their offices. This is all that is initially required as a Sole Trader.

In a week or two you will get all your paperwork whcih you will use to set up your bank account and set things up with your accountant. They will advise you from there.

 

In the UK you can get a self-employed form from your local tax office which states your self-employed status.

You can offset all business expenses against your income, keep income/expenditure accounts.

Your home costs, ie heat/light are usually dependant on how many rooms you have in the house, classing one room as an office in a 5 room house means 20% of that bill can go through, telephone etc can all be "negotiated" as with a vehicle if you use it for business you can put a portion through the accounts.

Generally in the UK within a few years you will get an investigation if you do the self-assessment yourself, where the tax man will "check" you are recording everything properly, I had 2 investigations in 3 years which was fun, but you can stand your ground and demand 90% of a vehicle if you can justify/explain it, they are pretty easy to deal with and you can always phone your local office for help/advice.

As long as you can justify the portion of expenses you put through then they are flexible.

I would not be inclined to use an accountant for small businesses that have simple accounts as the return is pretty easy to fill out.