New Carpet & Paint

[missymood]

Hi
Our carpet in our lounge is very old it came with our house when we moved in. I had to cut it when we divided up the room to make a sitting room. I will be using the living room for childminding as it is very large. Would I be able to claim for new carpet in there?? Can I also put the expenses for paint down as well as I have a bare wall now on the living room side?

Many thanks

[sfox2003]

Im not sure, isnt this what the 10% of our earnings each year is supposed to cover 'wear & tear'? I might be wrong though.

[miss mopple]

no as that would be classed as home improvements and the 10% wear and tear is supposed to compensate for things like that

[OrlandoBelle]

My accountant says otherwise.

When she did my accounts last month she put the decking down that I had laid in the garden, the decorating to my hallway and decorating to lounge, even though I had been told on here before that I would not be able to claim for it.

At the end of the day, the decking was for the benefit of the children, and the hallway and lounge needed painting and decorating to get rid of mindees sticky finger prints everywhere to make it clean and safe for children!

I'm not sure if she just put a percentage of the work down as I left it to her in the end, but I know she definately put it through my books.

[Chatterbox Childcare]

My accountant says otherwise.

When she did my accounts last month she put the decking down that I had laid in the garden, the decorating to my hallway and decorating to lounge, even though I had been told on here before that I would not be able to claim for it.

At the end of the day, the decking was for the benefit of the children, and the hallway and lounge needed painting and decorating to get rid of mindees sticky finger prints everywhere to make it clean and safe for children!

I'm not sure if she just put a percentage of the work down as I left it to her in the end, but I know she definately put it through my books.

Are you claiming 10% as well?

[OrlandoBelle]

Are you claiming 10% as well?

I'm not sure how she did it Debbie. I tried doing my Self Assessment myself and it confused me so much it reduced me to tears! So I took on an accountant. She really knows her stuff. I just write down all of my income and expenditure, receipts, etc, give it all to her and it's done and dusted and out of the way. Now all I have to do is pay my tax!!

[MrAnchovy]

Decorating is maintenance which is claimable (on a percentage basis if the room is not exclusively used for childminding).

Carpet is a furnishing which is covered under the 10% wear and tear.

New decking is not generally claimable (although repairs to decking are, again on a proportionate basis), but of course if you have taken specific advice then you may rely on that.

[Debbieanne]

I have a childminding friend who says childminders shouldn't pay tax... what are your views on that??

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I have a childminding friend who says childminders shouldn't pay tax... what are your views on that??

I think that this is a very general quote and depends on many factors -

1. do you have another job that takes your tax allowance?

2. do you earn a fair amount - I do pay tax and wish that I didn't!

You have to earn it to pay it at the end of the day but generally I would have thought that you could earn about £16000 and not pay tax because of the allowance and expenses

[missymood]

Hi thanks
Thought it might come under wear and tear. At least I can put the new wendy house down though

[Debbieanne]

I have a childminding friend who says childminders shouldn't pay tax... what are your views on that??

[Debbieanne]

ooops sorry clicked too many times. numpty

[Allie]

I don't know if it's right but I always put the playroom carpet down (lasts about three years) and will again in a few weeks when it's replaced. At the end of the day if they looked at your books and didn't like it wouldn't they only want the small amount of money claimed?


Allie

[Debbieanne]

So the million dollar question is what do most childminders earn and how much tax do they normally pay??

[missymood]

Hmnn got me thinking now maybe I will put it down as it will be used for childminding mostly as we have another room we will be using in the evening!

[Chatterbox Childcare]

So the million dollar question is what do most childminders earn and how much tax do they normally pay??

We all pay the same rate of tax unless you go over the threshold which I don't think many, if any, do.

[MrAnchovy]

At the end of the day if they looked at your books and didn't like it wouldn't they only want the small amount of money claimed

Yes this is generally true with three caveats:

• If a claim is in any way deceptive (for example if you say you only had the wall repaired but in fact you had it raised by two feet and a gate put in) and they discover this you will be in big trouble.
• If they see one claim for something that is not allowable in the year they are inspecting they will look for more, and if they find more they will open up previous years...
• If they have on record that you asked for a ruling on a particular claim and they said 'no' but you still went ahead and claimed you are on dangerous ground.

PS one more caveat:

• If you do claim for a playroom carpet on the basis that the playroom is used entirely for childminding and never used for anything else, they could in theory make a note of this (if they knew about it) and when you sell your house (if they knew about that, - the change of address is usually a give-away ) attempt to calculate a liability to Capital Gains Tax on part of any gain in value. I have never heard of this happening to a childminder, but it has happened to lawyers and to doctors who turn part of their homes into offices.

[buildingblocks]

I am facing this prospect myself. i have a conservatory that is used as a playroom and didn't claim any of the costs for building it or for the expensive Kardean flooring that was put down in there. I didn't want it carpeted as it is easy to clean.

Unfortunately over the past few years it has been less and less usable over the months of December and January as the floor is too cold. The children were slippers and jumpers but it is still cold especially as I have the door open into my front room were I am with the baby I care for.

So I have decided to have it carpeted (very begrudgingly) to hopefully make a difference to the floor and more usable during these two months. I would like to put the whole cost through but in reality will possibly only put 1/2 or 3/4 through. But will speak to my accountant to see what they think.

Just out of interest if he says yes and the IR say no who will be liable me or him

[aly]

But will speak to my accountant to see what they think.

Just out of interest if he says yes and the IR say no who will be liable me or him

I would say you as he is advising you, you have a choice wether or not to take his advice so if you do and claim then I would say you are liable as it is your business etc.

[MrAnchovy]

That's an excellent question buildingblocks.

The liability to pay any tax due is always yours.

If your accountant had advised you negligently, you may be able to make a claim against him, or in practice against his Professional Indemnity Insurance. Always make sure your accountant has adequate PII cover for any loss you might incur, and is a member of a professional body with a visible complaints policy to deal with any problems.

The problem you would face is that PII will only pay out for any losses you have incurred. If the outcome is that you have to pay tax to HMRC that you would have had to pay anyway, you haven't actually lost anything by being told that you didn't have to pay it. Does that make sense?

And that's only assuming that you could prove negligence.