Claiming Vat for planning application

Apologies if this is the wrong forum or if this has been covered before but couldn't find anything relevant after much trawling!

I am currently going through the planning process for my house for the third time, it has cost a considerable amount thus far. I am a director of my own VAT-registered company and would be running the business from a home office in my new house. Question is, could I legitimately claim the VAT back on the planning/supervision fees based on this?

no, most definately not!

Can you elaborate? The company is a construction company.

Who owns the house ? You or the company. Unless the company owns the property or has a rental agreement with the owner indicating responsiblity for construction costs then I do not see how any such claim can be validated. And then, even in the limited circumstances where a claim might be allowed if all the conditions were fulfilled it would be restricted to the VAT on the expense that relates to the portion of the property actually occupied by the company for it's business.

It is very dangerous to get into claiming VAT and expenses where business running from the owners residence. It gives rise to possible CGT issues / rates issues etc.

Ask for a Cash Discount

Thanks Graham, that explains it better. I had been thinking along the lines of me employing the company to build the house from start to finish, including the planning stages. This would be quite normal. Since the company would then be charging VAT at 13.5% I thought I could save a few quid. And its not me being greedy, am on very small remuneration while trying to get the company off the ground, this would be a way of getting a few quid out of it without revenue taking a large chunk through PAYE.

You didn't say at start that the company would be the contractor on the build. There are some issues to be looked at when doing work like this not least,
- related party transactions and
- arms-length amounts.
You'd need to discuss with your accountant / tax advisor.

Will do Graham, many thanks for the informed advice.

Just to let you know you may be running into potential RCT issues here also as you are connected with your company and are engaging them to carry out work on your behalf. You may need to get a payments card between you and your construction company. Also your company will have to build your house at the prevailing rate in the market place (ie) you must reimburse your company fully for the work it undertakes on your behalf. If your company were to have a Revenue Audit post build of the house I would envisage them taking a keen interest in the transactions to ensure they were all at arms length.

A payments card even though I would, as client, be un-registered? Seems like I'll have to come up with some other underhand way to save money! Thanks all.