When your business buys an asset (items that last for more than 1 year) you can claim a full tax deduction on most items that you purchase.
Every year companies are given an annual allowance (AIA) of 200k, which provides 100% tax relief for spending on most types of plant and machinery.
The allowance is available for purchases of both new and second hand assets, and is available to all types of business, sole traders, partnerships and companies.
Cars are the exemption to claiming capital allowances, the amount you can claim is based on the co2 emissions for the car.
Cars purchased from April 2015 with co2 emissions of 75g/km or less can claim the full cost as a tax deduction.
If you purchase an asset but have already used up your AIA allowance for the period or the asset does not qualify for AIA, it will need to be added to the main capital allowances pool.
There are 3 types of rates and pools, main rate attracts 18% allowance, special rate pool attracts 8% (mainly cars over certain CO2 emissions) and single asset pools with a rate of 18% or 8% depending on the asset.