You are able to claim capital allowances on plant and machinery kept for use in your business. Integral features within a building (such as lifts, heating systems and air conditioning systems) and certain fixtures (such as fitted kitchens and bathrooms) also qualify as “plant and machinery”, and a taxpayer can claim capital allowances on these items if that taxpayer bought the items in question.

In order to claim capital allowances, you must group items into “pools” of capital expenditure on which you have not previously claimed capital allowances. These pools attract different rates of allowances: most plant and machinery fall within the main pool (18% rate), but integral features and items which have a life of more than 25 years will fall within the special pool (8% rate).