HMRC have made it clear you can’t claim Capital Allowances for Personalised Car Number Plates, however, they do fall within the Intangibles Regime.
CTA09/PART8/S712
An intangible asset (other than goodwill) satisfies the asset conditions if it meets all the following tests:
- it is an intangible asset for accounting purposes (CIRD11120) including an asset which comes within the definition of ‘intellectual property’ in section 712 (3) of Part 8 (see CIRD11150),
- it is a fixed asset (see CIRD11170),
- it does not fall within one of the statutory exclusions (see CIRD25000 onwards).
Basically you write off the cost over it useful life or use a rate of 4% per year.
There is an argument for not claiming a deduction against your corporation tax because then any gain will be subject to the capital gains tax rules, but as you will probably keep the Registration indefinitely getting a tax saving now rather than possibly getting one later might be more beneficial.
steve@bicknells.net
