Sole Trader ‘use of home’ calculator
It can be a bit brain-scrambling to work out what ‘use of home’ costs you can offset against tax as a sole trader.
Of course the quickest way to do this is use the simplified expenses system offered by HMRC to sole traders. Unfortunately these flat rates are not very generous for most sole traders I meet.
The other way is to work out actual costs, and take a fair percentage for business use.
I’ve devised this online calculator to help speed up the process of calculating actual costs. You can then see which way might work better for you: simplified, or actual costs.
It makes some assumptions but I’ve tried to explain these alongside the figures.
The calculator below is inspired by a video explainer from a clever accountant called Louise Herrington. She’s a performer as well as an accountant, so has a great insight into tax issues for creative sole traders.
The video looks at ‘working from home’ allowances for employees too. Skip to 7’00” to get to the sole trader section.
See Louise’s video explainer on offsetting ‘use of home’ costs > (opens in new window)
Instead of number of rooms you might look at square-footage of your home, and work out a fair percentage of business use from that.
As long as you make a reasonable and justifiable calculation HMRC will be quite relaxed about it.
Remember, this calculator is very approximate. It’s designed to help you work out your own figures. It doesn’t mean the figures on this page show what you personally can offset. It’s just an indicator.
NB: None of your data is saved as it’s all in your browser. This calculator is completely anonymous.
NB: David Thomas Media Ltd is not responsible for the content of other sites nor any financial advice provided by them.
