I'm hoping someone can help! I'm just starting out and one of my clients has asked me how much he can claim for working from home expenses. I've calculated as below, but I'm a bit unsure about this as when I enter the same figures into the HMRC website simplified expenses calculator I get a totally different figure. So I am misunderstanding something and I really don't want to get this wrong.
So, my self-employed client uses one of his 6 rooms for work purposes. He uses it 6 hours per day, 5 days a week. The rest of the time (lets say 3 hrs per day) it is used by the family. I've calculated this as follows;
Heating & Lighting £130 a month
£1,560
Mortgage interest
3840
Council Tax for year
£1,723
House insurance
335
Total
£7,458
So: £7458 x 1/6 x 6/9
£828.67
I know there is also an option to claim a flat rate £4 per week, however I do believe given the amount of time he uses the room that he is incurring more than this so the apportionment route is the right one for him.
I would really appreciate any insights. Thanks in advance.
Mary
-- Edited by MaryChristina on Friday 28th of February 2014 07:09:05 PM
£7,458 X 1/6 X 6/24 (there being 24 hours in the day and only being used for business for 6 of them)
This calculation give £311, but doesn't (I don't think) take into account that he only works 5 days a week ....
Kris your webpage is really useful and pretty much the same as what I've done, which is great because this was my original understanding of how it is worked out and gives me a bit more confidence. (The other information pages on your website are also really useful, so thanks for those too).
Bucks, yours also makes sense and fits better with what the HMRC website has come back with so maybe I'm misunderstanding the new 'simplified expenses' thing which is the HMRC website page I found the calculator on.
Oh well, I guess I've got to go with what I originally understanding in the confidence that Kris's calculation agrees and in the meantime find out more out more about the simplified expenses.
I'm just starting out on my own so very reassuring there is somewhere I can get sound advice and so really grateful for the replies.
and I really don't want to get this wrong. 
