# Ebike for business use.



## Banjo (22 Nov 2017)

Anyone doing this? I wondered what sort of cost per mile would be reasonable for a Sole Trader to set against tax bill?

If only used for business use I guess the purchase cost could be 100% set against the taxable profit. spread over the life expectancy of the bike ?


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## petek (22 Nov 2017)

Banjo said:


> Anyone doing this? I wondered what sort of cost per mile would be reasonable for a Sole Trader to set against tax bill?
> 
> If only used for business use I guess the purchase cost could be 100% set against the taxable profit. spread over the life expectancy of the bike ?


Go for it.
You can be pretty imaginative with 'deductibles' as a self emplyoyed trader and still be legal.
We had a whippet and I successfully claimed for 'upkeep of guard dog'.
Whippets bark same as any other guard dog does.
BTW John at Cycleezee in Milton Keynes is retiring and closing his ebike business down.
Might be a bargain or two to be had there.


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## Banjo (22 Nov 2017)

I am close to retiring and plan on advertising myself as an odd job man , jack of all trades master of none as they say.
Only wanting 2 or 3 days work a week the cost of a vehicle would be too much . By staying local and keeping overheads down I think I can undercut regular firms that need to charge far more .Ebike plus leg power should drag tools and bits and pieces around .


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## petek (22 Nov 2017)

Banjo said:


> I am close to retiring and plan on advertising myself as an odd job man , jack of all trades master of none as they say.
> Only wanting 2 or 3 days work a week the cost of a vehicle would be too much . By staying local and keeping overheads down I think I can undercut regular firms that need to charge far more .Ebike plus leg power should drag tools and bits and pieces around .


A small van's yer man for picking up work.
When I sold my business I kept the van and the number of people who want stuff shifting means that it still pays for itself. I don't advertise - people just ask me if I can shift stuff for them and insist on giving me 'a drink' for so doing.


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## oldwheels (3 Dec 2017)

There is a guy in Oban who does electrical appliance repairs and used to use a Brompton for travelling around. He now has an ebike of some kind and certainly travels at least 6 or 7 miles each way to jobs that I know of but may well go further afield. Don’t know his financial arrangements.


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## NickNick (3 Dec 2017)

Banjo said:


> I am close to retiring and plan on advertising myself as an odd job man , jack of all trades master of none as they say.
> Only wanting 2 or 3 days work a week the cost of a vehicle would be too much . By staying local and keeping overheads down I think I can undercut regular firms that need to charge far more .Ebike plus leg power should drag tools and bits and pieces around .



It should definitely be doable and yes as long as it 100% for business use you can depreciate over a reasonable number of years. If you want to play it by the book and you use it for personal use as well, just work out a rough percentage and just charge to your books the proportion relevant to business use.

Only thing I would add, is that for the sort of sole trader type work you are thinking of doing, you will probably be better off accounting on a cash basis, rather than an accruals basis, as it makes doing your books a lot simpler and quicker (and cheaper if you are paying someone to do it for you).

Cash basis= you recognise income and expenses when you receive a payment or actually pay for an expense.

Accruals basis= you do your accounts based on GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) which is where you ensure that only income and expenses that relate to that financial year are recognised, so you have to use accruals, prepayments, debtors, creditor, fixed assets & depreciation, stock book...

If you do go down the cash basis, you wouldn't depreciate the cost of the bike over its useful life but would just treat it as a normal expense based on the date of purchase (so you might want to purchase it no earlier than the day you start you business).

I do something very similar to what you are planning on doing after a major career change 5-6 years ago I used to be an auditor with one of the big 4 accounting firms for best part of a decade. I am now a sole trader doing handyman work, painting & decorating, plumbing (water only), woodwork... and I do everything from my bike. If its a longish job requiring a lot of bulky heavy tools or materials I can't get delivered for one reason or another, I might use a taxi on first day and last day to drop off & pick up tools, but tbh most of the time I make do with a large rucksack.


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## Banjo (3 Dec 2017)

NickNick said:


> It should definitely be doable and yes as long as it 100% for business use you can depreciate over a reasonable number of years. If you want to play it by the book and you use it for personal use as well, just work out a rough percentage and just charge to your books the proportion relevant to business use.
> 
> Only thing I would add, is that for the sort of sole trader type work you are thinking of doing, you will probably be better off accounting on a cash basis, rather than an accruals basis, as it makes doing your books a lot simpler and quicker (and cheaper if you are paying someone to do it for you).
> 
> ...


Many thanks for that especially the accounting tips.Cheers


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