Readers’ forum: Allowable expenses

My client is the sole director of a consultancy company and works from his home office. He would like to buy a coffee machine and I understand that this will cost about £400.

Since he is working from home I wondered whether he would be able to claim this as an allowable expense? Can he also claim for the coffee beans to be used in the coffee machine?

Would it make any difference if he claimed the cost personally and was reimbursed by the company for first the machine and then the beans on an ongoing basis or would it be better if the company paid these costs?

I also started to wonder whether the tax and National Insurance outcomes might be any different if my client was self-employed and claimed these costs as business expenses.

I look forward to receiving clarification from Taxation readers....