You can claim annual investment allowance on any purchase of equipment (but not motor vehicles).
Annual investment allowances are available on the first £200,000 of investment.
Annual Investment Allowance is calculated by adding the cost of your purchases within the same accounting period together. If the total is less than the relevant annual amount ( currently £200,000) you can claim 100%.
Example 1 shows how this works.
First Year Allowances are available for certain types of expenditure such as certain energy-saving plant or machinery and cars with low CO2 emissions. (Up to 50g/km from 1st April 2018).
You can then claim writing down allowances main rate of 18% of any remaining pool value in the following accounting period and a special rate of 8% on certain items. The remaining pool will be the cost of the assets less the annual investment allowance and any first year allowances that have been given. This is shown in example 3.
If the balance of the cost of claiming Annual Investment Allowance, together with a balance carried forward from any previous year, less the sale proceeds from any items you may have sold, is £1,000 or less at the end of a 12 month chargeable period, you may claim that whole amount as a Small Pools Allowance instead of the 18% writing-down allowance.
Where you use an item of equipment for work and private purposes, the allowances you claim should be reduced by the amount of private use. This will affect the amount of Annual Investment Allowance and written down allowance you can claim.
Qualifying expenditure on cars must be allocated to one of two general plant & machinery pools. The appropriate pool depends on the car’s CO2 emissions shown on the car's V5 certificate.
Vehicles with CO2 emissions up to 110 g/km ( From 6th April 2018 )receive writing down allowances at the main rate of 18%. Vehicles with CO2 emissions over 110 g/km ( From 6th April 2018) receive writing down allowances at the special rate of 8%.
If you stop using an item of equipment for your work during the year, you need to make various adjustments to the allowances you have claimed. These adjustments are from the date you stopped using the item for work or sold it.
There are two types of adjustment:
Balancing allowance - The balance of expenditure brought forward from the previous year (if any), minus the sale proceeds (or market value if you did not sell them) of the items(s) at the date of cessation, or when you stopped using them for your official duties.
Balancing charge - If the disposal value is greater than the value of the pool brought forward then a balancing charge may be due.
