Travel for Home-Based Business

Newsletter issue - April 2012.

If you are self-employed your business may well be based at your home address, although you perform the majority of your work at your customers' sites. This can apply to a range of trades from plumbers to computer consultants, and even medical professionals.

In order to claim the costs of travelling to your customers' sites against your taxable profits, you need to show that your trading activity does not cease when you arrive home. The following records should help prove this:

• Precise records of all journeys to your customers' sites, including the date, the mileage, and any public transport tickets and parking receipts.
• A diary of the time spent working on proposals, quotes and other business related paperwork at your home address.
• Business-related paperwork such as invoices and quotations should show your home address as the business base.
• Any insurance policy you need for your business should show your home address as the operational base for the business.
• Where your business is operated through a company, having the registered office for that company at the home address can also help. HMRC will be able to see these details, but you can hide them from prying eyes on the Companies House register.

You can also make a claim for the cost of running your business from home, so speak to us to see what can and cannot be claimed as a business expense.