Hi Lorna
Sorry, but it has to be another quick one, although if your client is only 6months into her business Im taking it you dont need the info until after the January madness!

Anyway, first of all, what I should have added to your last post was welcome to the forum. I agree its fantastic, and have been on here for about 4 years or so now and I always say it feels like you are sort of in an extended office with people who you know you can rely on for help when you get stuck, or a bit of a giggle (as we can be a bit of a mad bunch sometimes).

Anyway to your question - you say you wanted some advice about capital allowances although your question seems a bit more geared towards depreciation, or perhaps its also about what can be considered as capex in general for this particular customer.

I am assuming that your client has leased her current premises. so firstly you would need to establish the length of the lease.

Whilst this post does start asking the question of the lease itself being capex, I think it does contain some very useful information as to the actual items having been spent to renovate the property also as to whether they are viewed as capex or revex. Eg My view is that the decorating is revex. The signage would be capex assuming she can remove it and take it elsewhere (you often can, but worth checking). The sink is another matter and is most likely covered in the 'conversely' paragraph that Shaun mentions in the very last post of the link below.

http://forum.bookkeepers.network/t57837043/capital-expenditure-on-a-leased-premises-is-this-right/

Also worth a mention is that depreciation isnt allowable for tax purposes but is purely an accounting issue. Capital allowances, instead of depreciation, allow for the tax adjustment.

Once you have decided what out of the £1700 is going to be left that can be depreciated, then the timescale and method is a decision that the client would make, but obviously with some guidance from you. Plus they need to set a figure for their own business, above which items are classed as capex or not. Varies for every business, some say only capex items over £500, but you can go lower - materiality needs to be considered.

Depreciation is to be based on the best method which reflects the allocation of the cost of the asset over its useful economic life and this usually determines the method used and therefore also the timescales over which the asset is depreciated. So your till (ive assumed its an electronic one) will have less of a useful life than the desk. Chairs might also have less of a useful life than say a normal office chair - given the type they are, so worth finding out how often they would need to be replaced as it seems my hairdressers replaces them every couple of years. Example - If you estimate your till will last 3 years (bit like a PC) then depreciate over 3 years, using the straight line method.

HTH