My mother runs a B&B and has three self catering cottages located adjacent to the B&B. Due to a combination of her age (she is well into her seventies) and the fact that business is bad, the self catering cottages are now rented out to full time. The B&B business is also quite bad. She pays some tax (income from the cottages accounting for most of the income).
The house (B&B) is really old and there are certain repairs that were put on the long finger as it was felt they would cost a lot to perform at the height of the celtic tiger (two chimneys need to be rebuilt, a wall needs to be partially rebuilt. Expenditure on these would cost around €5000 which is probably as much as she is making from the B&B.
I queried the Accountant about these qualifying as business expenses and he was of the opinion that they would not qualify in light of the income from the B&B. He thought they would be more personal expenditure in light of the B&B income.
However, the B&B income is only so bad due to this year and last year being so bad from a tourism perspective. Is it not possible to justify these repairs as legitimate business expenses in the current climate as the price will be less than half what it would have been a few years ago?
Thanks
The house (B&B) is really old and there are certain repairs that were put on the long finger as it was felt they would cost a lot to perform at the height of the celtic tiger (two chimneys need to be rebuilt, a wall needs to be partially rebuilt. Expenditure on these would cost around €5000 which is probably as much as she is making from the B&B.
I queried the Accountant about these qualifying as business expenses and he was of the opinion that they would not qualify in light of the income from the B&B. He thought they would be more personal expenditure in light of the B&B income.
However, the B&B income is only so bad due to this year and last year being so bad from a tourism perspective. Is it not possible to justify these repairs as legitimate business expenses in the current climate as the price will be less than half what it would have been a few years ago?
Thanks