Writing a suit off as a work expence - Sole trader

Wavey

Hi,

I just bought a suit for work. I am registered as a sole trader.

Would this be a valid expence against my income tax?

Could i claim the VAT back on this?

Thanks

Wavey

kluivert

If you bought a suit for work then yes you can.

Is it for work or for the ladies??

If you are vat regsitered you can calm back the vat as well.

Carb

No you can't. It all comes down to whether the expense was incurred wholly in carrying out your trade/profession. A suit cannot treated as a business expense as it serves two purposes, one been for work, and the other been that as it is a item of clothing, you need it for common decency. There is case law on it, where barristers tried to argue the same for wearing their suits in court.

The other side of the coin is that if you were to claim back the VAT and hide the expense in your books, would you get caught. The choice is yours.

Smoggy

The accountant had a fit when I tried to do it, so the answer is officially no

seamus

Writing off a suit is the same as attempting to write off your O'Brien's sandwich - while you had to incur the cost because you were at work, it's not a cost that you can specifically attribute to work (that is, you have to wear clothes the same as you have to eat).

"Business Lunches" fall under a different category as they're treated as a cost incurred through attempting to get/keep business for your business.

Wavey

Thanks for the replies.

The suit or suits actually, because I bought 2, are for work use only.

Is this set stone or is it open to interpretation like most of the expenses I have seen discussed on this forum and others.

Is it related to the profession in question?

I.e. would it raise a flag if it was used as an expense for a say a self employed Welder, but let slide if used as a business expense for an Engineer?


Wavey.

Carb

Wavey wrote:

Thanks for the replies.

The suit or suits actually, because I bought 2, are for work use only.

Is this set stone or is it open to interpretation like most of the expenses I have seen discussed on this forum and others.

Is it related to the profession in question?

I.e. would it raise a flag if it was used as an expense for a say a self employed Welder, but let slide if used as a business expense for an Engineer?


Wavey.

Its set in stone, no matter what the profession is.