Renovated, extended or refurbished? There is relief in that spend
Money spent improving a commercial property often holds capital allowances most owners never claim. Here is what qualifies when you renovate, extend or refit.
- Renovation, extension and refit spend often qualifies.
- A builder's lump-sum invoice hides the qualifying items.
- Earlier work can usually still be brought into a claim.
Most people think of capital allowances as something tied to buying a building. They can be. But a great deal of qualifying spend comes from the work done afterwards, the renovation, the extension, the refit. If you have put money into improving a commercial property, there is a fair chance some of it qualifies for relief you have never claimed.
What kind of spend qualifies
When you refurbish or extend, you are often installing exactly the things the relief is meant for. New heating, rewiring, lighting, air conditioning, a new kitchen, new washrooms, fire and security systems. These are plant and machinery built into the building, and they qualify in the same way the original fixtures do. The newer the work, the better documented it usually is, which can make the claim cleaner.
The part that gets missed
Builders rarely break their invoices down the way the relief needs. You get a single figure for the job, or a few broad headings, and the qualifying items sit hidden inside it. Without someone separating out what qualifies and valuing it properly, the relief on that spend goes unclaimed even though the paperwork is sitting in a drawer. This is the work a specialist analysis and a proper apportionment does.
It is not too late
You do not have to have done the work this year. Spend from earlier improvements can often still be brought into a claim, provided it has not already been relieved. We check the history first so nothing is claimed twice, then build the claim on what the work actually involved.
If you have renovated, extended or refitted a commercial property and never looked at capital allowances on that spend, it is worth an hour of someone’s time to find out what is there.