Sell a capital asset when using accruals basis accounting
This article explains how to record the disposal of a capital asset that your business sells or scraps if you’re preparing your accounts using accruals basis accounting.
The disposal will be handled differently if you’re preparing your accounts using cash basis accounting.
Please note:
- You only need to follow this process when you scrap or sell a capital asset. When a capital asset depreciates fully by reaching the end of the asset life you selected when you recorded the purchase of the asset, FreeAgent will automatically update your Capital Asset report to reflect this. However, if you then go on to scrap or sell that asset, you’ll need to follow the steps below to record the disposal in FreeAgent.
- If you’ve previously recorded the disposal of your capital asset in FreeAgent by creating journal entries, there’s no need for you to edit or delete those journal entries unless you want the asset to be removed from the Capital Assets report. If you do, first you’ll need to follow the steps outlined below and then delete the journal entries.
Explaining the money received for the asset
When explaining the bank transaction related to the money received for the asset, select ‘Disposal of Capital Asset’ from the ‘Type’ drop-down menu and select the asset that you’re disposing of from the ‘Disposed asset’ drop-down menu.
Select 'Explain transaction' to complete the process.
Additional steps for VAT-registered businesses
If your business is registered for VAT and you’re selling a capital asset that was recorded as a capital asset purchase, you’ll also need to raise a VAT invoice for the disposal in addition to following the process outlined above.
If you’re on the VAT Flat Rate Scheme and you reclaimed VAT on the purchase of the asset, you will need to handle the disposal outside of the Flat Rate Scheme and pay standard VAT on the sale. FreeAgent will handle this automatically for you.
Balancing charge
If you sell a capital asset that you’d used to reduce your tax bill through capital allowances, you may need to increase the amount of profit you have to pay tax on by way of a balancing charge.
If you have a limited company account, FreeAgent will automatically adjust your Corporation Tax when you dispose of an asset (as long as you haven’t sold the asset for more than you bought it for). If you have a sole trader account, FreeAgent will update the asset in the Capital Allowances table to show what capital allowances you can claim in your Self-Assessment tax return. Find out more about how FreeAgent handles capital allowances.
If you have a partnership, limited liability partnership or unincorporated landlord account, you may need to manually override the amount in box 26 of your Self Assessment tax return if you’re using the short version of the Self-employment page, or box 59 if you’re using the long version.
To calculate the balancing charge, you’d normally add the amount you sold the item for to the capital allowances you claimed, then subtract the amount you originally bought the item for. If you’re unsure whether you need to enter a balancing charge or how to calculate it, please ask your accountant.
Capital Gains Tax
If you sell a capital asset for a profit, you may need to pay Capital Gains Tax on it. Sole traders will need to include this information on the Capital Gains and Tax Adjustments pages of their Self Assessment tax return. Please note that the Capital Gains pages and the relevant box for this on the Tax Adjustments page are not currently supported by FreeAgent.
Limited company directors will need to include sales of company assets in their company’s Corporation Tax calculation. Please note that FreeAgent won't calculate chargeable gains on sales of assets as part of your company's Corporation Tax liability, so you would need to file your CT600 outside FreeAgent and create journal entries to adjust the Corporation Tax figure if your company has made a chargeable gain.
What happens next?
The disposal will be recorded in your Capital Assets, Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss reports.
Capital Assets report
In your Capital Assets report, you’ll see a breakdown of the disposal and how much the item had depreciated before you sold or scrapped it.
The figure that’s displayed next to the disposal line item is the asset’s net book value, which is the remaining value that the asset had on the date you disposed of it. FreeAgent calculates this by subtracting the amount by which the asset had depreciated up to the date you disposed of it from the asset’s original value.
Balance Sheet report
In the ‘Capital Assets’ section of your Balance Sheet report, you’ll see a new ‘Disposal’ line entry for the category of asset that you’ve just scrapped or sold.
The Balance Sheet report will also display the amount of depreciation that was posted to the asset category during the period covered by the report.
Profit & Loss report
The total amount you’ve made or lost through the disposal of the capital asset will be displayed in the debit column of the ‘Loss/Gain on Disposal of Capital Asset’ section of your Profit & Loss report. This value is automatically rounded up or down to the nearest pound.