Meaning of “new and unused” clarified for CAs purposes
The guidance on what “new and unused” means for the purposes of first-year allowances has been updated in order to make things clearer. What’s the full story?
-
Is it really the end of tax relief for homeworking?
In her 2025 Budget the Chancellor announced the end of tax deductions for “non-reimbursed homeworking expenses”. How might the loss of the deduction affect you and is there an alternative tax relief you can take advantage of?
-
HMRC threatens bogus penalties
Correspondence from HMRC suggests there's a penalty if you don't pay your self-assessment tax bill by Saturday, 31 January. This isn't strictly true, but what are your options if you can't pay on time?
-
HMRC updates guidance for claiming new allowance
Qualifying expenditure on plant and machinery can qualify for a 40% first-year allowance from 1 January 2026. HMRC has now updated its guidance to help make claims. What do you need to do?
The guidance on what “new and unused” means for the purposes of first-year allowances has been updated in order to make things clearer. What’s the full story?
HMRC’s guidance has been updated to make the capital allowances rules on qualifying expenditure for first-year allowances (FYAs) clearer.
The 100% FYA for main rate expenditure (full expensing) and the 50% FYA for special rate expenditure can only be used if the plant and machinery is new and unused. The guidance has now been updated to clarify that:
- where expenditure is incurred on upgrading or improving an existing asset by adding new parts, the expenditure may qualify for full expensing/the 50% FYA
- where new and unused parts are combined with used or second-hand parts to create a new asset, only the expenditure incurred on the new and unused parts may qualify for full expensing/the 50% FYA; and
- where something new has been made from recycled materials, the new asset will be unused and not second hand for the purposes of full expensing/the 50% FYA.
It may be prudent to revisit expenditure from previous years to check whether FYAs should have been claimed.





This website uses both its own and third-party cookies to analyze our services and navigation on our website in order to improve its contents (analytical purposes: measure visits and sources of web traffic). The legal basis is the consent of the user, except in the case of basic cookies, which are essential to navigate this website.