Scottish sounds

Our client has advised us that he intends to buy a home on a Scottish island.

He then intends to rent a property on the mainland and has asked if he can claim the whole costs – rent heat and light etc. – as expenses against his self-employed income as a musician.

He assures me that ‘a friend resident in Cornwall but renting in London’ has been doing this very successfully for years.

Am I right in thinking that this is not correct because HMRC would regard the island home as a ‘holiday home’?

I have said that a proportion of the mainland property expenses could be claimed as business use under the ‘use of room as office’ rules.

I would appreciate any advice or guidance around this subject that Taxation readers are able to provide.

Query 17 714– Muso

Reply from Tower

The solution...