I am a financial accountant and have been challenged by another accountant regarding a tax issue, and am wanting to find out if I am in the wrong for my clients sake. The issue raised was tax relief on private makeup purchased by self employed hairdressers. I say it is not an allowable expense however the person challenging me is saying that image is everything in salons so it can be claimed back. I cant find anything to suggest im wrong and have had several hairdressers as clients before now, none of which have claimed makeup. THIS IS NOT MAKEUP USED ON CLIENTS IT IS PERSONAL MAKEUP FOR IMAGE SAKE.......anybody else heard of this? if so where?
The rules would be the same as for business suits.
The fact is that the makeup is not purchased wholly and exclusively (I'm leaving off the necessarily here as you state self employed) for the purpose of the business in the same way that even though a suit may be purchased only to be worn for work it cannot be perceived as work wear.
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Yes I would agree under the reasoning of duality. However if it was make up that the hairdresser was also selling and she wore it as a purpose of displaying the product I may be inclined to argue that it was allowable. The clothing argument falls foul because of 'modesty and warmth' I seem to recall. If however it was everyday makeup, a slap of boots no 7 that may be worn ordinarily I would not allow.
Ahhhh this is why I love accounting/book-keeping, it (i'm sure i've said this before) appears to be all about perception, mainly yours versus the tax man. I wonder if highly experienced financial accountants would make awesome lawyers if pushed to it?
A lot of people who study law at Uni end up in accountancy as it's not as far from accountancy as you might think (Same with Business Analysis in IT being pretty close to accountancy).
ACCA paper 2.2 (now F4 on the new syllabus) is corporate and business law and it's the first one that really sorts the men from the boys as it's one that you have to pass and it's all legal studies (remembering case law including year etc. Nothing to do with numbers or accounts).
I absolutely loved that one and passed first time but it's one that gets a lot of casualties. I believe that some sponsors expect their students to pass every exam first time and if they don't then they're out.
When I first started my studies at paper 1.1 the ACCA had to hire two huge aircraft hanger sized halls in Birmingham to house the people taking exam. By the time one gets to the final couple of papers it down to one hall, a fraction of the size with several papers being sat at the same time.
And as I say, if you can't get through the legal paper then your not going to make it.
Thankfully I pay for myself otherwise it would have been advanced audit that did me.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
