Training / Material / Equipment expenses

[panadol]

Hi guys,

Have a questions about expenses for non-contract related equipment/books/software.


Say, if my current (and most previous) contract are all Java programming for telcomms.

Say, if I want to learn NodeJs and AWS..whatever.. out of business hours/contract, would my PC, software, books, AWS/BaaS costs, workshops etc... be claimable expenses to my limited company?

My guess is that these are claimable, as these are continuous learning expenses.

[NotAllThere]

You can't claim for a new skill. Only for extending an existing skill. To my mind, learning a new programming language or environment is just extending my existing skills. YMMV. The tax man may disagree.

[northernladuk]

You can't claim for a new skill. Only for extending an existing skill. To my mind, learning a new programming language or environment is just extending my existing skills. YMMV. The tax man may disagree.

It's arguable when it comes to languages. Are you a programmer or are you a Java programmer. Small point but makes a big difference. In that situation I would bang it through anyway as it's too close to call and I don't think you will get a definitive answer from any authority.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

You can't claim for a new skill. Only for extending an existing skill. To my mind, learning a new programming language or environment is just extending my existing skills. YMMV. The tax man may disagree.

I don't think there is a definitive answer to this but I agree with this too.

If I didn't keep up to date with new languages and technologies related to my core work (web and mobile software) then my skills would go stale and my business would die. So perfectly acceptable IMO.

On the other hand, if I decided I also wanted to start offering photography services, then that would clearly be a new skill unrelated to my current business, even if I intended to trade through the same Ltd Co once I had learned the skill.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I suppose another way to look at it is "Java" isn't a skill, but programming is. Java, or any language, is just another tool in the box. The more we learn, arguably the more proficient we are at our job.

[TheFaQQer]

I suppose another way to look at it is "Java" isn't a skill, but programming is.

Not the way the guys at my client do it, it's not