Can my employer take back ageed and paid expenses?

bap98189

I would try and contact the places where you spent the money and see if they can send you copies of invoices. Petrol stations or shops are unlikely to be able to help you, but hotels and the like might be able to help you.

Bobl

You need to read the company expense procedure. I would be very surprised if they do not require receipts. i also incur expenses regularly and I would not get reimbursed if I did not provide receipts.

If the company policy does not state receipts must be provide you may have a reasonable argument; but get that clarified first.

DVardysShadow

For me, a lot hangs on whether they were aware that the expenses were unreceipted when they were authorised. If they were aware eg

• '£45 petrol, unreceipted'
• the authorising officer will admit to knowingly signing unreceipted
• you numbered the receipts and cross referenced on to the claim form, but some lines were not referenced

then I think you are home and dry.

If they do try to reclaim from you, the word 'estoppel' comes to mind. I am not a lawyer, I only have a general grasp of the topic and I have refreshed my mind from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estoppel which cover 'AngloSaxon' law - ie it is general to UK and US law. I think this would come under the heading 'reliance based' estoppel. My idea is that you have relied on their acceptance of the expense claim as final acceptance of the correctness of your claim - and in consequence, your records of the events have not been maintained and you are now cut off from access to the evidence which would enable you to defend their claim. So they should be estopped from making the claim

The argument I suggest in my first paragraph is actually IMO estoppel in its bluntest form - but it is so blunt, that I imagine you could just make the argument without mentioning the word estoppel at all. But even if you cannot show that they were aware, I think you may still be able to make an estoppel argument fly, on the basis that there is an expenses approval process [:idea: get hold of a copy of your employers expenses procedure - and look at the approvals process] and they have had the opportunity to deal with any shortcomings.

Now, the above is what I think the bottom line legal position could be. It is not legal advice, it is just avenues to explore. Preferably, you want to deal with this without recourse to lawyers. So you need to try and deal with it in the work place.

So the first thing to do is to write and say that you do not agree. And ask for direct copies of the originals of all claims forms and all receipts associated with those claims forms and a schedule of all monies to be reclaimed. Make them put a clerk on it for a week. And when you get their information, ask for at least as long as they took to review it all.

By doing this, you are making it difficult for them to actually make any deductions until you have had your chance to look through. Others [eg SarEl] could advise whether an Employment Tribunal claim for unlawful deduction before you have had a chance to review would actually fly.

Now, when you review the material, review the schedule line by line, to see whether on 'balance of probability' you can show you did actually make the expenditure wholly and necessarily on employer's business - eg hotel matches diary, garage matches location. There is always the 'shirt from a garage' argument, but overall, you should be able to reach a point where you can show that taking all of the disputed expenses back is more unfair to you than letting you keep them is to the company.

Secondly, look for audit marks which might demonstrate that the receipts have been tallied with the claims forms at any stage in the process of handling your claim. If these are present, then you are in there with a fairly blunt estoppel argument. But if there are no audit marks, ask the question how do they know that they have not lost any of the receipts. Request a copy of the accounts department archiving policy. Think back through your claims and find several instances where they have lost receipts. You'd be surprised what you can remember ... Get them to prove that they have not lost a whole wad of receipts. Make them put a clerk on it for another week. Find receipts they have not given you where they are not claiming the money back - dangerous I know, but you can justifiably claim that they are losing receipts while they are making out their claim. If you are lucky, find receipts included where they are trying to claim back from you.

Aim to make them spend about £1.25 for every £1 they get back from you.

Of course, if it is only £50, don't try so hard.

Uncertain

I think there is some excellent practical advice here from DVS.

I would initially try to lay the blame firmly at the door of whoever approved the payment of the expenses in the first place.

After all, if a receipt was required, it would have been possible in many cases to have got one had you known promptly. You could have written or phoned the hotel or contacted the supplier armed with your credit card slip etc.

If they were happy to pay at the time based simply on (I assume) a signed claim form then the firm is at least 50% to blame. A written policy can cease to be a policy by custom and practice. If you can show that the regularly deviated (presumably you are not the only staff member who claims expenses) then arguably the policy has changed.

DVardysShadow

Uncertain wrote: »

... A written policy can cease to be a policy by custom and practice. If you can show that the regularly deviated (presumably you are not the only staff member who claims expenses) then arguably the policy has changed.

Thanks, I had it in mind when I posted, but I forgot. The written procedure is potentially a double edged sword. If it says that the approver must check for receipts - and it was approved without this happening, it is of course the company's own fault - and you can also argue that when signed against this procedure, the authorising signatory was either satisfied that all necessary receipts were present or that it was not important. And if it does not mention anything at all about receipts, then what is the big problem?

noodle944

Thanks for your replies.

I have checked my contact and it says that to claim expenses I must provide a receipt, or 'other' means of proof of the expenses.

As has been mentioned, my credit card statements are all very clear about when, where and what was purchased, so any confusion about buying shirts instead of meals etc is not going to happen.

This is so frustrating because this was only brought to my attention at the beginning of the week and today is my last day with them, as we are emigrating, so I haven't been given hardly any time in which to find the information or indeed to argue should they deduct any money from my final salary.

bendix

I'm afraid your credit card statements are as much use as a chocolate oven. Sure, they may list what you bought but they are not usable by your employer as proof of purchase as a business expense - only official tax receipts can be used in the accounting process.

Ergo, if you haven't provided official receipts, they are within their legal rights to claim the money back. Whether they should from a good employer perspective is another matter, but that's not the subject under discussion.

pjcox2005

Bendix, It's not my area of knowledge but I'm not sure I agree with the last point.

If their contract states "to claim expenses I must provide a receipt, or 'other' means of proof of the expenses." Then surely a credit card statement should be classed as an 'other' means of proof, it certainly would be where I work.

After all a receipt from a petrol station showing petrol brought, is no more evidence of a business expense than a credit card statement. For example, how can the receipt show that it is for there car and not say a son or daughter?

I'd speak to a manager and get their opinion. It may be harder as you are not staying at the company, as if you were i'd suggest you raise the difficulty in incuring business expenses in future it you can't garuntee to be paid, but it should be something they can resolve.

Googlewhacker

How much are we actually talking about here?

DVardysShadow

bendix wrote: »

I'm afraid your credit card statements are as much use as a chocolate oven. Sure, they may list what you bought but they are not usable by your employer as proof of purchase as a business expense - only official tax receipts can be used in the accounting process.

Ergo, if you haven't provided official receipts, they are within their legal rights to claim the money back. Whether they should from a good employer perspective is another matter, but that's not the subject under discussion.

I disagree. I think you are probably misapplying a ruling concerning VAT.

All that is required for expenses payments is evidence that the expense was incurred and that it was wholly and necessarily incurred on employers business. End of the reimbursement of expenses process.

If the receipts are not good enough for VAT or any part of the company accounting process, that is their problem. They put up with not reclaiming the VAT or take whatever hit is coming. But it is not grounds to claw money back from the emmployee.