Friday, June 20, 2008

The business of shedworking - part 5

Alan Young of 1st Addition Accountancy ends his week-long series of postings with a look at Other Things To Consider:
"So, if we are running our business from a garden office or home, what else do we need to consider? For a start, most mortgage companies ask us to stipulate whether or not there is a business element to our occupation. We may need to be able to prove to them that we have separate business insurance to cover us for this.

Also, running a business from home may attract the attention of the Valuation Office Agency who will determine whether or not a property will attract business rates. Guidelines for this can be found at www.voa.gov.uk/council_tax/working_from_home.htm, however, as our house remains, substantially, a domestic residence, this is unlikely to be a major issue for us.

When running any business from home, it is important to ensure that we have adequate insurance, to cover us for all eventualities. If we use our garden office or shed simply as a base to perform our administration, then it is likely we can extend our household insurance policy to cover the additional value of equipment kept there. If, on the other hand, we meet clients there, or are considering taking on employees, then we will need to look at taking out a specific, separate business insurance. Small business ‘packages’ are currently available, which cover us for all aspects of business insurance, including public liability, employee liability, business interruption insurance etc. These packages are available from around £250 a year.

"Legislation is constantly being updated, and the only piece of advice that never changes is; always check with your accountant, when looking to claim or calculate these expenses."
Alan also runs a useful blog which is well worth a browse. Many thanks to Alan for putting these posts together - if you are in need of his expertise, you can contact him via his site and blog.

3 comments:

  1. Running office from the garden room is clearly a healthy and viable plan. You can always ask garden room builders
    regarding material, they are utilizing for building these sheds.

    ReplyDelete
  2. How much of an exciting piece of writing, continue creating companion marketing

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  3. very informative post keep it up.... net worth

    ReplyDelete