Expense or Captial allowance?

P

patoshea

Guest
Hi,

Three questions for you. I'm a sole trader and I just got double glazing put into my home office and household bathroom for €1300. Can I claim the window in the office as an expense (€650) or is it an asset? Can I claim at all?

I bought a laptop a few months ago for €1400, I then broke it (water spill) and bought a new laptop. Can I claim the old laptop as an expense? Obviously the new laptop is an asset and I will claim as such.

Lastly, the ESB and Eircom bills aren't in my name but I give the house owner a percentage in cash every two months. Can I still claim that as an expense? If so, how would I show receiepts for it? Do them up myself and get owner to sign?

Many thanks!
 
Claiming expenses for "home office" might be interpreted as converting some of the premises from PPR to commercial premises with all that that might incur... Rates, CGT on disposal of the premises etc...
As for the broken laptop. If it was a business asset you could write off the loss on disposal...
 

If the house isn't yours, how is the double glazed window yours?! I presume you won't be taking it with you if you move out next week...!
 

Thanks for the reply. Well, instead of home office, let's call it the room that I run my business from. The room desperately needed double glazing as it was miserable working in there. I went splits on the bill with the house owner. Is there no way I can claim that?

As for the broken laptop, I'm only doing my self assesment now, which is when I would normally declare new assets. How does that work? Can I back-declare it as an asset now and then write off the loss at the same time?
 
are you doing your self assessment for 2011? If you purchased both laptops in 2012 they will fall into your 2012 assessment. you mentioned that you got the first one a few months ago

You can claim a full balancing allowance on the first one and 12.5 % of the second one
 
@patoshea - cruggers is suggesting correctly that some capital expenditure that is attached to the dwelling though 'claimable' may not be separable from the house whereas other fittings could be. Personally I would not claim double glass element.

You could claim a percentage of household bills that relate to the business.
 
Thanks for the useful advice.

I decided not to bother with the double glazing - seems a bit silly now that I think of it! I earned so little this year that it hardly makes a difference.

As for the laptop I broke, I will claim the full balancing allowance and 12.5% on the new laptop next year.

Thanks again. Hope you all got your returns filed on time!
 
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