Taxes have been rising in the United Kingdom. More and more business owners are looking for ways to save money on theirs. Capital allowances are a popular tax relief for businesses, which allows business owners to deduct some or all of the value of items they have purchased from their profits before they pay their tax bill. Generally, sole traders, partnerships, limited companies, and commercial property investors are able to use capital allowances. This post’s intention is to navigate the impact technology has had on capital allowances and explain how it’s easier than ever to make claims and save your business money.
Professional Support
Modern technology means business owners no longer have to do their own tax returns. They can outsource accounting to online support services. In the past, business owners had to keep meticulous paper logs and present them to their accountants at the end of each tax year. Nowadays, everything’s digitized. You can pay an accountant to check your returns and search for eligible allowances without ever having to meet them in person. The professional support of accountants and capital allowance services in particular make saving money easier than ever. The experts from Six Forward make this clear on their website. Many accountants actually work with capital allowance services. The reason accountants work with capital allowance services is because they have unparalleled expertise in the Capital Allowances Act 2001, allowing them to save their clients huge amounts of money.
If you are interested in hiring a company to help you save money on your capital allowances or you are an accountant who’s planning on outsourcing capital allowance checks, make sure that you find a company with good reviews and a solid reputation. The reason that reviews are important is because they tell you what a company’s like to work with, giving you a glimpse into the minds of their customers. Knowing what to expect when you commit to working with a company is always ideal. You also need to think about cost, especially if you are an accountant. Make sure you find the most affordable company you can partner with. However, don’t compromise on quality just to save money. If one organization offers a better level of care than another but charges a small amount more, still partner with them. Compromising on quality just to save money can lead to potential tax write-offs being overlooked.
Online Filing
Did you know that it is possible to file your tax returns on the internet? You no longer have to do it in person by filling out a paper form. Filing online means it is much easier to claim capital allowances since all you have to do is hand your business’s returns over to an accountant and your taxpayer ID so that they can log into your government gateway account and complete the form on your behalf. Of course, not every business owner does have an accountant and some people prefer to file their taxes themselves, without anybody else’s help.
Individuals interested in filing their own tax returns benefit from the fact that there are literally hundreds of guides available on the internet, teaching people how to identify potential capital allowance claims. If you are interested in using guides to find out what capital allowances you could claim, make sure that you find one written by an expert. A lot of articles on the internet are copied from other websites and are not being written by the experts themselves. You can find out whether or not an author is trustworthy by reading their bio or researching them elsewhere on the web.
Online Consultancy
Another benefit of technology is that if you have any concerns about capital allowances but don’t want to hire a professional tax agent or accountant to act on your behalf, you can always have a quick and simple online consultation. Online consultations in capital allowances are essentially just lessons in them, helping you to get a better understanding of what qualifies as a capital write-off and how you properly format your tax claims to make sure that you get your write-offs accepted without any issue.
The same companies that offer to complete people’s tax returns for them also offer consultations. If you are planning on working with one, find the most experienced company you can. The more experienced a tax consultancy firm is, the better the level of care they offer will be. They may also be able to help you with other write-offs. Capital allowances are not the only kind of tax relief you can get. You can also claim for mileage and any other work-related expenses, i.e., lunches and Wi-Fi at your business or home if you work from there. Write-offs are a great way to bring down your tax bill.
Technological Claims
Finally, did you know that it is possible to make capital allowance claims for the technology you have purchased? For example, computers and laptops purchased for business operations are considered machinery, meaning they can be totally written off. If you have made any large equipment purchases this tax year, you can totally write them off as long as they are related to your business’s operations. You can’t claim things that you have purchased for personal use. You must adjust the amount you are claiming if the item you have purchased is being used for personal reasons.
If you purchased a work laptop but use it to browse the internet in your spare time, you need to deduct however much you use it from the total amount you claim. In simpler terms, if you use your laptop for 50% personal browsing and 50% work then you can only claim for the 50% that your laptop’s being used for work. If you make any errors in your claim or tell mistruths, you could be held legally accountable and could end up having to pay a fine or get into more serious trouble with HMRC.
Capital allowance write-offs can be a great way to save yourself money on your tax returns. With April just around the corner, it makes sense to start looking into them now. If you are unsure how to claim capital allowance write-offs yourself, you can always hire a professional to help you.
