Self Employed Instructor

[mr_cellophane]

If I were to become self employed and contract to one of the various larger companies who provide training for local councils, what could I claim against tax ?
Obviously at least one bicycle and the maintenance of it, but could I claim; general cycle clothes (obviously not full lycra gear), shoes, helmet, lights, a second bike, maintenance tools, etc ? and non-bike stuff; mobile phone, computer, internet, etc

[adinigel]

The best person to answer this would be an accountant. Ring a couple of local ones - some will offer a free initial consultation. Things like phone computer etc are likely to be a proportion relating to the split between personal and business use

[mountainman531]

You don't need to employ an accountant, HMRC are very helpful and they run courses to help peopel complete their tax returns and they tell you what expenses you can claim and how to work out the proportion of business use.

[xpc316e]

I used to be a self-employed trainer delivering driver training to companies. I used to claim a proportion of all my motoring expenses against tax, along with money for lighting and heating my home office, computer, etc. I found that my accountant used to charge very little, compared to how much he saved me.

[Steve Kish]

Self Employed Rule 1 = claim everything!
Self Employed Rule 2 = expect some
Self Employed Rule 3 = get a decent accountant to bridge the gap as much as possible twixt the two!!
Self Employed Rule 4 = under no circumstances do your own self-assesment!!!!

Steve Kish
Self Employed since 1994.

BTW, I love this bit:-

HMRC are very helpful