Working from home is becoming more and more common as the modern working practices kick in.   Actually attending an office from 9 am till 5 pm is no longer the norm and people will work from home for many different reasons.   Whether you run your own business or are an employee of a business, it is not seen as a negative if this is the option you choose to work and employment firms are a lot more relaxed about this.   Here are some of the things to consider if working from home:

Office Space

Ensuring you have some dedicated office space is important.  This would be in the form of things like a computer desk and printer but also just some quiet space away from the family.  If you do not have this then you may wish to covert a current room into a home office. This may seem drastic however creating your own home office does not need to be expensive and you can use steel buildings providers such as Armstrong Steel to support you with this where you can build one from scratch. This provider is highly recommended for anyone who needs easy assembly as their buildings are extremely easy to erect.   If you do not have a spare room in the home to do such a conversion, then you could consider converting the garage if you have one.  This again is becoming a more and more popular choice.

Cost Saving

If you are the owner of a business and have made the decision not to rent an office and do it all from your home then you could save yourself a lot of money.  Renting office space can be quite expensive and there a lot of additional costs associated with this that include electricity, cleaner etc. This can all be wiped by just using your own. Clearly, you would still be required to pay things like electricity but the costs would be a lot less than your business rates.

Productivity Improvement

Depending on what type of business you own or work for there is evidence to show that productivity can be a lot better when working in the home.  There are several reasons for this, however, one of the main reasons is around distractions. If you are in an open office environment, then it is natural for people the get distracted and get involved in office chit-chat.  In the home, people can lock themselves away in their home office and just get on with their work. In addition to this, there is no travelling time therefore if you have an hours journey to and from work, this can be saved.

Tax Implications

If you do not have an office and have made the choice to work from home with your own business, you can claim this against your personal tax returns.  There are allowances for you to claim back which may include things like telephone bills and any expenditure you associated with this.  Making sure you keep a full trace on all of these costs is extremely important to ensure that your accounts are accurate and that if you are audited by the tax man you have all the correct information.

*Collaborative post