Self Employed - Tax Claim on a USB drive

[turner2151uk]

Good evening,

I am self employed and file an SA100 every year.

I have been told to purchase an encrypted usb stick at £62 (my laptop hard drive went pop and i had no backups!), this is so i can keep only my business files on it (receipts, accounts etc)

Would this be an acceptable expense for the company or would this be classed as capital expenditure? If it is capital expenditure, surely this usb stick will not decrease much more in value! :|


Any help / comments would be apprieciated

Best Regards,

turner2151uk

 

[Scalloway]

Even though it will hopefully last more than a year I would not bother capitalising that amount.

 

[turner2151uk]

Hello, thanks for the rapid response!

So I should claim as an expense?

Best Regards

turner2151uk

 

[Scalloway]

Yes claim it as an expense.

 

[andygambles]

Personally I wouldn't consider capitalising anything under £200.

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Thats very expensive for a USB stick, even an encrypted one.

You can buy a standard USB stick and use the wonderful free truecrypt to add encryption to it, or you can also use truecrypt with free cloud storage like dropbox to have all your data safe in the cloud, whilst also having it encrypted so nice and safe.

 

[turner2151uk]

Thanks Paul,

The only issue with 'free' cloud storage is, it doesnt always stay free and the cloud storage suppliers are not obliged to keep your files. The other issue is, will it still be there in 6 - 7 years time if the tax man knocks at my door

Best Regards,

turner2151uk

 

[Paul_Rosser]

Good point, which is why I pay rackspace 6p a month per gig of storage and also make a weekly backup to usb ;-)

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Hi Turner2151uk

Slightly off topic but you may find this link helpful too - HMRC website.

Do be careful relying on USB sticks for back-up. I've heard of several people loosing data when they've failed after repeated use.

 

[marlint]

Just from a tech point of view- I'd be wary of relying on just a USB stick. If you do PLEASE make sure you don't just store it next to your computer. All it takes is a fire, a theft, or an electricity surge and you've lost your originals and your backups.

As reference- my backup strategy for tax related stuff:

1.) Local copy on hard disc
2.) Backed up to Dropbox
3.) Backed up to encrypted online storage using SpiderOak

I should also probably be taking a physical media backup (to e.g. DVD) on a regular basis. Make sure you store any physical backups in a seperate location (e.g. home rather than office) to protect against fire/flood etc.