Sole Trader: Air Conditioning Expense

[Henry Gregory]

Hi there,
I am a sole trader IT Consultant - part time, I have a full time job the rest of the time which I have to go into work for.

I do a substantial amount of my sole trader work from home via the internet. I have a spare bedroom which I use for my work. It has a desk and computer all just for my sole trader work. The room faces the sun and unfortunately, gets very hot in the summer months. I have a fan, and thick curtains to pull on hot days to keep the heat out but it hasn't helped much. It is not possible to move to another room away from the sun.

Can anyone tell me if air conditioning is an allowable expense for a sole trader such as me? The ac would obviously be used when I am working in here. I have tried googling online but could only find one article which this site helpfully will not let me post the link to. The scenario was someone wanting to build a home office in their garden, so not the same as me.

I have got some rough ideas on quote prices and it seems it would be just under £2000 to buy it and have it put in.
Unlike a work phone/computer which I can sell in the future and then record the sale in my profit and loss and self assessment, I am not sure how it would work with a/c as it would be a fixed thing that built onto the house and not something that my business could easily sell in the future.

Can anyone advise if I am allowed to claim for such a thing?

 

[Scalloway]

If it is in your house I would say it is part of the house and not eligible for tax relief.

 

[STDFR33]

I’d say that’s it’s fully allowable, but if you own the house you have CGT issues.

 

[japancool]

How big is the room? Would a portable unit (which you could later sell) suffice?

 

[Henry Gregory]

Thanks for all of the posts.
I did look into a portable one but there is nowhere to vent the pipe and the work involved in putting in a permanent vent would outweigh the cost of just buying a permanent one. You can get ones which you put out of the window, but you then have heat blowing back in. They don't seem to be as effective and cost quite a bit in electricity.

I am in a Shared Ownership property. I own about 75% of the property.
It would be an expensive purchase for me, however, it would really help with my productivity as it just get's so hot up there.

 

[Scalloway]

A few points to consider.

• If it is a permanent fixture will the 25% owner have to give consent?
• If you move out can it be sold to the new occupier?
• Will it improve the value of the property if you sell it?
• Will it be used exlusively for when you are doing business work?

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

What about a ceiling fan?

From the web:
Unlike air-conditioning, a ceiling fan doesn't actually make the air in a room or space cooler. Instead, the fan cools the occupants in it. ... The removal of that insulating layer of air increases a body's heat loss to make it feel cooler.

I'm told the Fantasia one's are best. *Cost a bit more but worth it because they are alleged to be quieter? *Nowhere near the price of aircon though.

I've a portable aircon unit and it's noisy, needs an open window for the exhaust pipe and takes a while to warm up or cool down whichever way you want to look at it. I can't imaging a fixed unit being much different?

 

[Darren_Ssc]

I've a portable aircon unit and it's noisy, needs an open window for the exhaust pipe and takes a while to warm up or cool down whichever way you want to look at it. I can't imaging a fixed unit being much different?

A fixed unit is better BUT you still need to get rid of the hot air via ducting which is going to be another expense and may not be easily hidden.

Solar resistant window film may be a cheaper solution in this case?

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Back in my day air conditioners

I would be going down the portable unit route as well !

 

[Darren_Ssc]

I would be going down the portable unit route as well !

Have you had one, I haven't heard a good thing yet?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

A long time ago i was informed by my accountant it was better to leave the home office alone and just absorb the small costs of running it. maybe talk to your accountant about any benefits and potential implications

 

[DWS]

Do you really think the UK weather is that good that you need air con?

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Back in my day air conditioners

I would be going down the portable unit route as well !

My Gree unit is a few years old now and maybe they've improved, but I can't comfortably talk on the phone when it's on, and that's in a 18ft square office with the unit over the other side!

 

[japancool]

As long as you get one that goes down to 16C, a portable unit works well in an average sized home room. Ones that only go to 18C are useless.

 

[jimbof]

A fixed unit is better BUT you still need to get rid of the hot air via ducting which is going to be another expense and may not be easily hidden.

This is not how most split air conditioners (the most common ones used in fixed installations) work.

Most split units remove the heat from the room, not the air. Inside the room the air is cycled through an evaporator unit by a fan. The heat is extracted from the air, and the same air comes back out of the evaporator (just cooler). Outside a condenser unit with its own fan expels the heat into the outside air. There's a compressor in the outside unit.

The heat is transferred via thin insulated copper pipes in a loop of refrigerant gas / liquid. A small drain pipe is also needed to drain the condensate (moisture extracted from the air in the cooling process.

Air conditioners thus usually require pipes, not ducts. You can often get away with a hole as small as 50-65mm diameter.

Fixed split air conditioners are much, much better than portable units, but are priced accordingly.

I've got 2 split AC system in the house (one in the attic living room, one in the cinema room). I had a portable one for about 2 months which was enough for me to realise that:
1) I really, really liked AC
2) I really, really hated the portable unit.
The fixed units are wonderful.

Portable units are inefficient because they do exhaust hot air through a pipe in the room to the outside, and they are noisy because the fans have to work really hard to develop enough pressure to send the air so far out of the room, and the compressor is also in the room with you (instead of outside).

 

[STDFR33]

Why are people treating the OP like a complete idiot like they haven’t already established whether or not they would benefit from air con?

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Why are people treating the OP like a complete idiot like they haven’t already established whether or not they would benefit from air con?

Possibly because since May 2018 Henry has sought guidance about allowable expenses be it mileage, health care, glasses and now aircon, indicating that he would prefer not to throw bundles at this?
He's explored the possibility of a portable unit, has expressed concerns over the cost of electricity and stated that fixed aircon would be an expensive purchase for him, which all suggest to me that he is looking for ideas and has far from made up his mind.

 

[japancool]

1) I really, really liked AC

Having lived in countries where aircon was mandatory, so do I, but for the two weeks in the year that I would need one in this country, it's not worth the expense of fitting a fixed unit.

 

[STDFR33]

Possibly because since May 2018 Henry has sought guidance about allowable expenses be it mileage, health care, glasses and now aircon, indicating that he would prefer not to throw bundles at this?
He's explored the possibility of a portable unit, has expressed concerns over the cost of electricity and stated that fixed aircon would be an expensive purchase for him, which all suggest to me that he is looking for ideas and has far from made up his mind.

It’s not the question asked though is it? It’s just derailing the thread.

 

[jimbof]

Having lived in countries where aircon was mandatory, so do I, but for the two weeks in the year that I would need one in this country, it's not worth the expense of fitting a fixed unit.

I think it depends many things. A mild local climate, where my house is there are tall buildings on 4 sides so little through breeze, yet direct sunshine, and poor 1980's construction, mean my lounge / kitchen / diner in the attic of the building was pretty much unbearable at least a month of the year, and uncompfortable for about 3 months.

Worth the expense? To me, for sure.

If the OP is in the same position, it sounds like the room is unpleasant whether they're working in it or not (unless they're running supercomputers in there that are significantly heating the room, and the room is fine without the business equipment). So it's a bit hard, unless the room isn't ever used outside of work, to claim this is purely a business purchase. In my mind it really is what it is, a home improvement.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

It’s not the question asked though is it? It’s just derailing the thread.

The OP has used about 250 words to outline his situation, covering everything from the direction of the sun and his daily job to build a picture of his circumstances and is receiving some empathetic replies and suggestions for alternatives as well as responses to his main question.

If the OP had asked, 'Can I claim aircon as an allowable expense?' and the reply was 'Yes or No', and that became typical, this forum would last about 3 weeks.

 

[Henry Gregory]

What a lot of replies.
Thanks everyone for your responses.

I don't have an accountant at the moment, as I just sell my time, no products etc so my accounting is quite simple and my initial accountant actually advised me it would be more cost effective to do it by myself - he is a family friend. It is just things like this which leave me unsure of what to do.

Several of you are quite right, from my investigations, it seems that the portable ones are not all that efficient and involve having to have a window open to vent the hot air out. My main reasons against them are:
1. Had one years ago and it was a pain and seemed really inefficient.
2. Very noisy, so no good for working from home & making calls all day.
3. Far more costly over time in terms of bills.

It is a tricky area as I would rather not have to spend money on this, but just the other day, we had a hot day and it was so hot here I was struggling to work. The house is new and very will insulated which does not help with getting the heat back out, the benefit is that in winter, it is lovely here! I do already have a Dyson fan which sadly just blows hot air back at you so has not helped on hot days.

At present, the second bedroom is used 100% as my office. I have no bed here, just a desk, filing cabinet, printer and mirror. But I am really not sure what the future will hold for the room. If I meet someone and have a family, it may change which is why I wanted to get some clarity on this as this is not the sort of system you can move around. It is a fixed unit and would become part of the house.

I am in a difficult position as I can see that it could bring other benefits, but when I am not working I would not be using the system. I have no need for cool air, so it would not benefit me in any other way, but it is not something I could take away with me if I move. I have two large 27 inch monitors and a powerful computer - it is surprising how much heat these push out! Thanks for whoever suggested the UV window covers, I will look into those. And thanks everyone for your responses. I just want to make sure whatever I do, it is done by the book and the right way of doing things!

 

[Henry Gregory]

Hello everyone, just a quick update after quite a while.
As I am sure many of you will have noticed, this summer, the weather has been far hotter than it usually is.

As a result, my work has been severely impacted as I just cannot work in this sort of heat with the equipment I am working on.
The general gist from people contributing their opinions on this post before was that it was unlikely I would be able to claim for a proper air conditioning machine to be fitted to the room I use to work as self employed. It is an expensive thing to have to buy anyway, so I have always been hesitant.

Sadly, I just cannot continue to work in such hot conditions, so I have purchased a portable unit for around £400. The operating costs of this will be far higher than that of a profesionally fitted system.

Can anyone tell me if I will be able to claim for this mobile unit as an expense. Surely if anything, a mobile one could be wheeled out and used for personal purposes so I would have expected HRMC would have had more of a problem with a portable one than a permanently fitted one but there we go.

Also, can anyone tell me how I could categorise the respective costs for running this as obviously it is not going to be cheap with the current engery costs but with the room temperature often hitting 27 degrees plus, I cannot sit in this room and work efficiently so I have no choice.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[phoed]

Hello everyone, just a quick update after quite a while.
As I am sure many of you will have noticed, this summer, the weather has been far hotter than it usually is.

As a result, my work has been severely impacted as I just cannot work in this sort of heat with the equipment I am working on.
The general gist from people contributing their opinions on this post before was that it was unlikely I would be able to claim for a proper air conditioning machine to be fitted to the room I use to work as self employed. It is an expensive thing to have to buy anyway, so I have always been hesitant.

Sadly, I just cannot continue to work in such hot conditions, so I have purchased a portable unit for around £400. The operating costs of this will be far higher than that of a profesionally fitted system.

Can anyone tell me if I will be able to claim for this mobile unit as an expense. Surely if anything, a mobile one could be wheeled out and used for personal purposes so I would have expected HRMC would have had more of a problem with a portable one than a permanently fitted one but there we go.

Also, can anyone tell me how I could categorise the respective costs for running this as obviously it is not going to be cheap with the current engery costs but with the room temperature often hitting 27 degrees plus, I cannot sit in this room and work efficiently so I have no choice.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi Henry

You can either allocate this to:
1. Fixed assets and claim 100% capital allowance in the first year or
2. Profit and Loss as expensed equipment.

Re energy cost, calculate a reasonable cost based on time/space proportion and allocate as usual to use of home expenses.

To make the unit as efficient as possible, get one or more of the window seal for portable air airconditioners. You won't regret it. https://amzn.eu/d/3i8V0ce

Cheers
Phoenix

 

[BustersDogs]

Try silver reflective screens/sheets. I use a corner of my south facing living room for my admin, and it gets really hot in here. Putting up the silver reflective screens that I also use for my van for the dogs, makes it much much cooler than just curtains, and the fan is more able to cope. It's only on the 30+ degree days that I don't use the desk, as it's right next to the window. I can still chill out on the sofa on the other side of the room though.

 

[BustersDogs]

Didn't realise this was a 4 month old thread.

 

[Henry Gregory]

Didn't realise this was a 4 month old thread.

Hi Henry

You can either allocate this to:
1. Fixed assets and claim 100% capital allowance in the first year or
2. Profit and Loss as expensed equipment.

Re energy cost, calculate a reasonable cost based on time/space proportion and allocate as usual to use of home expenses.

To make the unit as efficient as possible, get one or more of the window seal for portable air airconditioners. You won't regret it. https://amzn.eu/d/3i8V0ce

Cheers
Phoenix

Thanks for your comments both.
@BustersDogs yes, sorry it has turned into quite a long post as I never expected this would be such a complex issue. In the past couple of years, the temps have been hotter and hotter and working in a 27+ degree room is impossible but unfrotunately, this is my room for work, it has all of my screens and computer gear, I can't just move it all to a different room which is why I am surpised that installing a permanent solution in a room you use just for work would be such a problem when it comes to claiming for it as an expense. It is hardly anything of desire. If it was a 70 inch TV or similar, I might understand but it is a piece of hardware to maintain a temperature, not really a luxury given the current conditions in the room. Anyway!

@phoed, thank you. I have done some calculations and at the current rate, it works out at 36.4p per hour running cost on the current tarriff which isn't half bad at all to be able to work comfortably. The machine arrived on a pallet earlier today. It is not that big, quite heavy but my god, it was on for just under one hour and has reduced the room to 20 degrees in around 45 minutes. The room isn't that big and very well insulated (so hopefully the cool air won't escape too fast) so I didn't need it on for long. It has been off for 35 mins and has gone up to almost 22 degrees again. I am quite confident that once I get the pipework sorted for the window, having this on a few hours a day will be more than good enough. I don't think it will need to be on solidly so this should work out a good solution for now, though it is untidy with pipes - a permanent solution would have been far neater and cheaper to run but a much larger initial outlay.

Thanks very much for the link, unfortunately, it seems it is for an inward opening window. I am going to have a look this afternoon and see what suitable kits there are. I will also need a slightly longer pipe as it is only 1.5m. I think 2-2.5m would do it but seems the next option is 3m.
I am also going to do my best to find some hose cover which should help insulate the pipe so the heat doesn't leak out and into the room.

Even with these bits, it has still worked out a far cheaper way to be able to get my work done and be able to concentrate. I have left this room 3 times so far and the heat hits you when you go into the rest of the house so it really has helped.
I can't think of what they are called but I am quite sure there are smart plugs which monitor how much is drawn through them. If I am able to source one, I will keep it permanently connected to the plug for this unit and then it will make it very easy for adding the energy expense to my self assessment as this will only be powered on when I am in this room and working.
Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.