Brilliant Start-Up, 2nd Edition

Do your books 173

Buying equipment

The shock for most start-ups is that you can’t claim back the

total cost of a new piece of equipment in the year in which you

bought it. Instead, you have to claim back a ‘capital allow-

ance’ each year reflecting your length of ownership of a piece

of equipment (around 40 per cent, less for cars and subject

to change: see www.hmrc.gov.uk/capital_allowances/

investmentschemes.htm).

You used to be able to claim back 100 per cent of computer and

related equipment in the first year, but this is no longer the case.

Claim back everything you are allowed to

While you want to claim for as much