Can I declare training that took place before I went self-employed?

[Tommo]

Hi geeks,

I'm just going over my accounts and was wondering if any of you knew...

I did a few training courses in February/march 2012. I officially registered as self employed beginning of tax year 12/13 so, April 2012

Can I declare this training as outgoings even though it took place and was paid for before I started my business? I have googled this but can't find anything

Thanks in advance, hope you can help

 

[polkadotnails]

Hi Tommo,

Yes you can claim for costs incurred before you registered as self employed so long as you can prove that the costs was specifically incurred with the aim of starting that business.

However, there are further complications regarding claiming for training costs. Being self employed you can only claim training costs for courses that were taken to update your current set of skills. If the training was to add additional skills/services then you cannot claim these as these are classed as an investment cost.

Hope this helps xx

 

[bobbyrazz]

I had this question so I rang up HMRC to ask. They were less than helpful however they did say that you can't put training down as an expense if it was to get you into a state of self employed. X

 

[Tommo]

Thank you very much guys, really helpful answers. That's a shame though!! X

 

[larenka]

So does this mean that if you do a Level 2 NVQ and go on to do the Level 3 that you can class the L3 as the development & therefore claim VAT back? I also can't find anything on line about it Thanks!