Self employed loss in 2019 and PAYE

[Westelec86]

I’m a Paye worker and my total annual salary was approximately 55k in 2019.
I began the process of setting up my own self employed electrical contracting business this year however due to a delay in getting registered I’m only starting to complete jobs in January 2020 and receive payment.
I registered for self assessment in April 2019 and I have some expenses for buying equipment related to the trade, etc in 2019.
Now my question is can these losses be used to offset against my Paye income?

 

[dublin67]

yes you can provided that you were full time in contracting business (not sure of the precise hours requirement). However I would suggest that you use the earlier losses against later profits in your contracting business by running a 12 or eighteen month accounting period. By doing it like this you will get relief from income tax, PRSI and USC. I would also comment that equipment is generally written off over eight year, via capital allowances, and not taken as a deduction in the year of purchase.