TomHolmes
Junior Member
I've got a free afternoon, so thought I'd get my tax return filled out (doing a rough on the paper form first, I'll do the final thing online).
I've been keeping accounts of all my incoming and outgoing money, but trying to fill the form is proving to be really confusing what with all the jargon and vague accompanying notes.
I'm a Sole Trader working from home and my turnover is below £70,000 (unsurprisingly).
I've filled in form SA100, the general bit, that's straightforward enough. I'm stuck on form SA103S Self Employment (Short).
Firstly there's the 'Business Expenses' section. It mentions wages, but am I right in thinking that only wages paid to someone else are counted here? If so, do I not need to tell them how much I paid myself, or does that not matter?
I can't see anywhere to put my NI contributions either - I don't think these count as expenses either.
The other confusing bit is the Capital Allowances section. I bought a desk, chair and power extension totaling £175. I already owned my laptop, so I don't need to list that. I've also bought software and fonts, but I can't work out if those come under expenses or capital allowances? Or are all these things of such little value that they could just be bundled under expenses?
I can't even understand what capital allowances are. Are they just things I own that I don't have to pay tax on? I've read stuff talking about 'claiming back the AIA' - does that mean claiming back tax or literally claiming back the full cost of these items?
I'm going round in circles reading explanations and articles, but the language used is completely baffling and just leaves me even more confused. If anyone can shed some light on these please help!
I've been keeping accounts of all my incoming and outgoing money, but trying to fill the form is proving to be really confusing what with all the jargon and vague accompanying notes.
I'm a Sole Trader working from home and my turnover is below £70,000 (unsurprisingly).
I've filled in form SA100, the general bit, that's straightforward enough. I'm stuck on form SA103S Self Employment (Short).
Firstly there's the 'Business Expenses' section. It mentions wages, but am I right in thinking that only wages paid to someone else are counted here? If so, do I not need to tell them how much I paid myself, or does that not matter?
I can't see anywhere to put my NI contributions either - I don't think these count as expenses either.
The other confusing bit is the Capital Allowances section. I bought a desk, chair and power extension totaling £175. I already owned my laptop, so I don't need to list that. I've also bought software and fonts, but I can't work out if those come under expenses or capital allowances? Or are all these things of such little value that they could just be bundled under expenses?
I can't even understand what capital allowances are. Are they just things I own that I don't have to pay tax on? I've read stuff talking about 'claiming back the AIA' - does that mean claiming back tax or literally claiming back the full cost of these items?
I'm going round in circles reading explanations and articles, but the language used is completely baffling and just leaves me even more confused. If anyone can shed some light on these please help!