Contractor and travel expenses

[mandelbrot]

I'm not talking about claiming anything back from the company, I want to know if I can pay for the hotel directly from the Ltd company bank account.

Without any hint of irony, the answer to that is "it depends".

In the first instance on where the normal place of work is.

But essentially the test is whether the expense is wholly and exclusively laid out for the purpose of the trade, or is a benefit/perquisite for the director.

 

[ang1170]

As the OP said, that's not the question - my misunderstanding.

The answer to the question asked is "yes". The follow-up depends if it is a claimable expense or not. If it is, there's no further action, other than to record it. If it isn't, you've two choices: (1) reimburse the company account from your own (the simplest) or (2) include the payment as part of your taxable income.

 

[Scouser]

Thanks, so what is being said is that the same rules apply for claiming tax free reimbursements. What if the client reimburses the contractor for the hotels, in that case I assume it's ok to pay for hotel from company account, client then reimburses contractor for actual expense, no further action required..

 

[T McGibney]

Thanks, so what is being said is that the same rules apply for claiming tax free reimbursements. What if the client reimburses the contractor for the hotels, in that case I assume it's ok to pay for hotel from company account, client then reimburses contractor for actual expense, no further action required..

Don't assume anything as Revenue have quite suddenly & sharply revised their own interpretation of what is & isn't allowable - without any change in legislation, mind you - and its all now so complicated that its impossible to answer meaningfully without knowing the full specifics of your contract and circumstances.

 

[Scouser]

Don't assume anything as Revenue have quite suddenly & sharply revised their own interpretation of what is & isn't allowable - without any change in legislation, mind you - and its all now so complicated that its impossible to answer meaningfully without knowing the full specifics of your contract and circumstances.

I have been reading up on all this and it does sound quite complicated. The contract im talking about here enabled me to work from home and visit head office ocassionally, they allowed me to expense hotels for my visits to head office so I paid for these on the company credit card and then got reimbursed by the client, i didnt claim mileage or subsistence for these trips as i know head office was my normal place of work.

 

[T McGibney]

I have been reading up on all this and it does sound quite complicated. The contract im talking about here enabled me to work from home and visit head office ocassionally, they allowed me to expense hotels for my visits to head office so I paid for these on the company credit card and then got reimbursed by the client, i didnt claim mileage or subsistence for these trips as i know head office was my normal place of work.

If your hotel bills are being expensed, you can't also claim subsistence in respect of overnights. You will need first to determine where is your 'normal place of work' (based on the above I wouldn't necessarily take it for granted that its your customer's head office, btw) and on that basis you need to determine your company expense entitlements.

 

[Scouser]

If your hotel bills are being expensed, you can't also claim subsistence in respect of overnights. You will need first to determine where is your 'normal place of work' (based on the above I wouldn't necessarily take it for granted that its your customer's head office, btw) and on that basis you need to determine your company expense entitlements.

I didn't claim any subsistence on these trips, just paid the Bill from company account and client reimbursed my ltd. Regarding the normal place of work, I think tax briefing 3 makes it clear that my home cant be my normal place of work in this case.

 

[T McGibney]

I didn't claim any subsistence on these trips, just paid the Bill from company account and client reimbursed my ltd. Regarding the normal place of work, I think tax briefing 3 makes it clear that my home cant be my normal place of work in this case.

Sorry, I know you didn't make subsistence claims, I meant to add that you may well be entitled to claim mileage, although that is up to you. I wouldn't necessarily be taking Tax Briefing 3 as Gospel, as it's not legislation, merely an interpretation of the legislation that may or may not hold up if/when it is eventually challenged at the Appeal Commissioners and/or in the Courts. If the sums involved are significant to you, you should consider obtaining specialist professional advice.