Whether it’s a new construction, extension or refurbishment, capital allowances are available to anyone who is incurring costs on their properties. The rates of allowances stretch from 2%-150% of the expenditure incurred in the same period, so it can be a lifeline when it comes to easing your cash flow.
Navigating your way through the eligibility criteria can be a daunting task, and identifying qualifying assets isn’t always a straight forward process. With this in mind, we’d always recommend consulting an expert on the matter, to make sure you’re staying compliant whilst also maximising the value of the relief.
Like many other business owners, you might not be considering refurbishing, extending or building during the current economic climate. But if this is the case for you, all is not lost.
You could already be sitting on thousands of pounds worth of unclaimed capital allowances within your property, from air conditioning to internal doors, to lighting throughout the building. As long as the assets still belong to you as the taxpayer, historic claims can be made.
Oftentimes when reviewing historic claims, additional value from your properties is uncovered too. We’ve seen time and again instances where claims haven’t been truly maximised. Whether it’s due to a lack of awareness, not being taxpaying when the expenditure was incurred, or thinking that all of the allowances have already been claimed. So, if you’ve incurred expenditure on the acquisition, construction, or refurbishment of a property in the past, it could be well worth exploring your portfolio retrospectively.
Whilst most advisors and businesses will be aware of capital allowances in some way shape or form, relief for commercial property is a highly specialist subject matter. Meaning that it requires an expert eye to comprehensively survey your assets in order to unlock the true value of the claim.
Fixed assets such as furniture, fittings and equipment
Freehold buildings and leasehold improvements
Furniture and loose equipment
All ambient features and integral items to the building which are being used in the business
Items such as computers, desks and printers
Extract costs from property expenditure such as telecoms, computer power supplies and tv points.
A capital allowance expert will come out to visit your property, survey your property and assets and will gather all of the necessary information to maximise your claim. The likelihood is that if your advisor hasn’t done so, not all of the allowances you’re entitled to will have been claimed.
The best way to understand the true value of the relief is to speak to a capital allowances advisor about your property – they will soon be able to identify and expose areas which you may not have realised were eligible for relief in the past, to help maximise the value of your claim.
