Tax claim.

Jun 10, 2018
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I ve just bought our caravan and pick up next week ,8my question is that if I use for work the odd night nights to save travelling could I claim a percentage of the van cost. I'm just a sole trader. Also touring in jan Feb march would you just use on board water tank so nothing freezers then fill up again when its low. Many thanks.
 
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Mar 14, 2005
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I ve just bought our caravan and pick up next week ,8my question is that if I use for work the odd night nights to save travelling could I claim a percentage of the van cost. I'm just a sole trader. Also touring in jan Feb march would you just use on board water tank so nothing freezers then fill up again when its low. Many thanks.
Hello Curly,

I am certain that rather than using advice from an anonymised forum about tax matters, you should consult your own regulated tax consultant.

As for water usage, many caravanners do so during winter months, and many will use onboard tanks, but the advice from me would be to understand that we can get some of our coldest periods during Jan Feb, and March, so the use of an indoor tank, may be better protected from frost. However you should ensure that all exposed under floor pipe work is either properly insulated, or set to drain without pooling.
 
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Nov 16, 2015
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I have used our caravan in winter months with temperatures down to minus 5, using Aqua rolls, we have covers over them, and insulated connection pipes from the Water rolls to the caravan, we have only twice had the top 1/2 in of water in the Aqua roll freeze up. .

As for claiming tax, a friend of mine managed to claim for staying in his caravan whilst he was working away, but as to how, to do it as the Prof says, ask your accountant.
Good luck.
 
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Mar 14, 2005
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Hi again,
Just further important point about winter caravanning. You should be using Propane LPG not Butane.

The reason is liquefied Butane in the bottle will not produce enough vapour (gas) when the ambient air temperature is below about 5C. By comparison Propane bottles will operate down to below -35C.

Do not be tempted to wrap bottles up to keep them warm. It doesn't work as the bottles naturally cool down as the liquified gas is evepurated to its gaseous vapour phase. It uses heat from the ambient air to drive the change.
 
Jan 6, 2020
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I ve just bought our caravan and pick up next week ,8my question is that if I use for work the odd night nights to save travelling could I claim a percentage of the van cost. I'm just a sole trader. Also touring in jan Feb march would you just use on board water tank so nothing freezers then fill up again when its low. Many thanks.

I would say you probably can claim it as a business expense, if you're using it for your business in some way i.e. travel. You can probably get the VAT back on it. As the first commenter said, probably best to look at some specific advice though, although a consultant/accountant can be costly. Look online first, see if you can figure it out yourself. Few good websites that I look at for tax stuff is https://www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed and https://www.income-tax.co.uk/ hopefully that will help

:)
 
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Nov 23, 2010
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Unlike previous contributors to this thread, I have done what the OP is asking about.
I am VAT registered, and record every time the caravan moves a wheel, and at the end of the year, I subdivide the number of nights and the mileage done into Personal and Business. Then, when I buy a new caravan, I take the average Business use and claim back that amount of VAT.
Also, my caravan is through the business as a vehicle, and my accountant writes it down accordingly.
 
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