# Tradesman I employed incurred clamping fees in private car park - deductable expense?



## Andarma (27 Feb 2011)

A tradesman doing work in my rental property was clamped twice while there. It's a long story, but it wasn't  really his fault, so I paid the clamping fee of €95 each time. Can I claim this as an expense?


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## PaddyBloggit (27 Feb 2011)

I very much doubt it.

He broke the law, you paid his fine and you expect tax relief on it?

Saying that, why should you pay his fine?

He's a big boy and should be able to take responsibility for parking his own van.


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## Andarma (27 Feb 2011)

He didn't break the law - he was parked on private property and the clamping rules, including the fact that commercial vehicles were clampable were not obvious. I had not been informed, as a property owner, that these rules applied. I've had no joy pursuing the clamping company or the management company of the development.


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## PaddyBloggit (27 Feb 2011)

I guess it could be argued that it was an expense incurred by you while having work done on your property.

A tax expert out there might be able to shed light on your query ... I'd be interested in seeing a positive response.


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## T McGibney (28 Feb 2011)

Andarma said:


> A tradesman doing work in my rental property was clamped twice while there. It's a long story, but it wasn't  really his fault, so I paid the clamping fee of €95 each time. Can I claim this as an expense?



I don't see why not. The contractor incurrred an expense and passed it on to their customer. Simple as...


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## Howitzer (28 Feb 2011)

T McGibney said:


> I don't see why not. The contractor incurrred an expense and passed it on to their customer. Simple as...


Yeah good luck with that.

By the same token you could fail to pay your tax bill this year, incur a fine, and then offset that as an expense next year.

Ultimately it's self assessed. You complete your own tax affairs and take full responsibility either way.


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## T McGibney (28 Feb 2011)

Howitzer said:


> Yeah good luck with that.
> 
> By the same token you could fail to pay your tax bill this year, incur a fine, and then offset that as an expense next year.



Sorry, I don't see how this is at all relevant to the OP's query.


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## oldnick (28 Feb 2011)

Howitzers example was clearly relevent to OP's question -
It was a clear and clever analogy which suggested that OP's fine is not allowable


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## T McGibney (28 Feb 2011)

The fine was incurred, not by the OP, but by their contractor. Instead of having the contractor bill the OP for the cost, the OP agreed to pay it for them. 

This is not the same as if the OP had themselves incurred the fine and decided to claim tax relief on it.


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## Knuttell (28 Feb 2011)

There are a list of allowable expenses that revenue allow,a clamped car regardless of the background story or who it belonged to or who paid the fine,is not one of them.

If his car had been broken into and you had paid for damages,you couldnt expect that expense be written off.

I know of one individual who puts receipts you just would not believe against rental income,his telephone/broadband bills,photocopier,the cost of servicing his car(due to visiting rental properties)etc,pure loony tunes,all well and good til he get audited,you can put anything down,its self declaration however if audited,I definitely do not think you could stand over the clamping bill.


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## ajapale (6 Mar 2011)

Knuttell said:


> There are a list of allowable expenses that revenue allow,a clamped car regardless of the background story or who it belonged to or who paid the fine,is not one of them.



This would be fine if it were the OP's vehicle we were talking about but its not. In this case it was an expence (a private parking fee arrangement) incurred by a maintenance contractor.

If suppose it was an electrician who was using a hoist. The electrician, the hoist hire and any associated costs with parking up the hoist would be allowable in my opinion.


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## Padraigb (6 Mar 2011)

ajapale said:


> ... In this case it was an expence (a private parking fee arrangement) incurred by a maintenance contractor....



I think that is correct. The key is the bit in parentheses: it's effectively a parking charge.

It would be different if it were a fine or penalty charge imposed by law, because such things are not tax-deductible.


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