Capital Allowance Expenses

Hello James SW, thanks for posting on the Community page, capital allowance, would have to be entered in on the actual self-assessment form you fill out on HMRC website.  You can't enter it in QuickBooks self-employed, that's why you don't see a category for this. 

This seems like a major flaw in the software. Obviously self employed people buy vans and tools etc so should be able to record them as capital expenditure in the app.

I agree, this is quite a major flaw.

To get around this, I have included all my capital expenses alongside my expenses, but I created a 'Capital Expense' tag (which wasn't as straightforward as you would imagine). When it came to completing my tax return, I had to do some calculations to deduct the Capital Expenses total from the expense total etc. A bit of a faff really and I never thought I would have to find a workaround for paid software. Capital expenses are pretty fundamental to every business and I'm very surprised there is no obvious way to track these.

Have you come across any other companies that do offer this?

We appreciate you for coming back, James.

I'll ensure you can deliver your insights to our product engineers so they can include this in future product updates, and you'll be able to have all the options you need when categorizing your expenses.

Currently, users of QuickBooks Self-employed (QBSE) can send suggestions through the Assistant icon. However, please note that the assistant feature on the web version is currently under maintenance. 

In the meantime, you can submit your comments using the QBSE application. Let me guide you on how.

1. Open the QBSE application.
2. Tap on the Assistant icon at the bottom.
3. Type feedback in the field.
4. Choose Add a feature.
5. Enter and send your product suggestions.

For more tips on managing your expenses in QBSE, I encourage reading this article: Self-employed business expenses.

If you have any further questions when sending your suggestions and managing your expenses in QBSE, please don't hesitate to post them on this thread. We're always willing to help.

There is a guide on how to record Capital Assets here: Setup Capital Asset in QuickBooks Online 

I have just created a detailed guide on how to do this, including how I split the entries between personal and business use.  Also includes tips on asset types and how to add the asset, depending on whether you are using Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) or Writing Down Allowance (WDA).  You can see my post here:  Setup Capital Allowance journal entry in QuickBooks Online