cutting your tax liabilities ( Info required)

drive007

Hi,

Has anyone had any dealing with Nova services in Leeds.
The system apparently works by your wages being paid to them gross from your employer, and they work out your tax. They say that you can claim back lots of work expenses, including laundry of uniform, and travelling expenses to and from work. I have only recently heard about this, and would appreciate if anyone could tell me any more from personal experience.

Thanks

Debt_Free_Chick

Presumably they charge you a fee for this?

They can only claim back what you could claim yourself anyway. And travelling expenses to and from your normal place of work definitely do not qualify.

mountainofdebt

totally dodgy to me!!!!


You can not claim travelling expenses to and from your place of work.

I know my mum was given an allowance (I think it was about £50) for the laundry of her nurse's uniform but this was given to her in her tax coding. If you qualify then I personally would get in touch with your local tax office.

System

As someone who has worked for the Inland Revenue I know that many people go to these firms who contact the IR on their behalf to claim for things like professional subscriptions and expenses to do with their job. I've heard of one company which charges 40% of whatever refund the taxpayer is due. If you are curious to know if you can claim for something then contact your tax office they don't charge you anything and can go back 6 years if you want them to.

littlemisscheap

No it's not all dodgy news and yes, you can claim back expenses for travelling to and from work - the idea being that you pay company1 a small fee (which is also tax exempt as its a cost) -mine is £35 per week.

But I would advise you to use a well established organisation to manage your affairs - this company you mention cannot be easily traced on the web so cannot be anything major. Generally, the larger the company the easier you get your money on time and better advice.

Here is the policy of the organisation I have just started to use:-

My 'normal place of work' is defined as with company1 so I can claim for travel expenses when working away from this base ie. whilst working at company2.

"You can claim payments for travelling expenses both in the UK and abroad incurred in the performance of your duties or all travelling expenses (including home to office) whilst you are working temporarily away from your normal place of work. "

does this make sense? need more info? - email me off board

WHA

Even if you were employed directly, you would usually have a "permanent workplace" the travel to/from which is not tax-allowable, but you would be able to claim tax relief for travel to other sites of the same employer, customers or suppliers of that employer. I can't see the difference.

Unless, of course, your "employer1" is not really a proper workplace at all (i.e. your home), in which case it sounds like an artificial tax avoidance scheme which the Inland Revenue would disallow if they knew about it. The question I would ask is "if the inland revenue knew the full facts, would they still allow it?" If not, then you need to be careful you are not engaging in a potentially illegal tax evasion scheme - after all, the Inland Revenue have the power to fully investigate your own affairs, and "all" your employers, not just financial records, but also contracts of employment, service contracts, etc etc.

Also, don't forget that you can only claim upto 24 months to any location, and (from memory) you can't claim if you spend more than 50% of your time at a single location, so you would need to have multiple "final" employments over your working time at "employer1" anyway. Breach these rules, and any temporary workplace becomes a permanent workplace. Have a look at the IR website for their booklets on travel expenses - they have plenty of worked examples showing how these rules operate.

littlemisscheap

" Even if you were employed directly, you would usually have a "permanent workplace" the travel to/from which is not tax-allowable, "

My "permanent workplace" is company1 which is not tax-allowable as you correctly suggest but ...

"but you would be able to claim tax relief for travel to other sites of the same employer, customers or suppliers of that employer. I can't see the difference."

I work for a customer/supplier for company1 ie. at company2 which as you rightly suggest is "able to claim tax relief"

"Unless, of course, your "employer1" is not really a proper workplace at all (i.e. your home), in which case it sounds like an artificial tax avoidance scheme which the Inland Revenue would disallow if they knew about it."

company1 is a large employer of many individuals including me and is a proper workplace in the city albeit that I will never physicallly work there. The Inland Revenue have negotiated special concessions with company1 such that over 10 hrs a day away from site means I do not need to keep receipts for food/subsistence

The question I would ask is "if the inland revenue knew the full facts, would they still allow it?" If not, then you need to be careful you are not engaging in a potentially illegal tax evasion scheme - after all, the Inland Revenue have the power to fully investigate your own affairs, and "all" your employers, not just financial records, but also contracts of employment, service contracts, etc etc.

Also, don't forget that you can only claim upto 24 months to any location,

...fine as mine is a 3 month contract at company2

and (from memory) you can't claim if you spend more than 50% of your time at a single location, so you would need to have multiple "final" employments over your working time at "employer1" anyway.
I believe that is >50% at company1 location whereas for first 3 months, i will be 100% at company2 ie. 0% at company1

As you can see i will very likely have multiple employments if my job is for 3 months at company2

Breach these rules, and any temporary workplace becomes a permanent workplace. Have a look at the IR website for their booklets on travel expenses - they have plenty of worked examples showing how these rules operate.

WHA

Inland Revenue Booklet IR490 goes into great detail as to what travelling/commuting is allowable against tax.

If you don't physically attend "employer1" premises, then it cannot be your permanent workplace, therefore "employer2" becomes your permanent workplace and travel is not allowable.

"permanent workplace" cannot be determined by employer or employee - it is a matter of fact judged by the Inland Revenue on the facts of each case, backed up by statute and case law.

Also, from what you say, it sounds as if "company1" is an agency. There are specific rules in IR490 which relate to agency workers.

I would suggest that you read IR490 to safeguard your own position. I would also suggest that you make sure that your "company1" guarantee to pay any taxes etc that the IR come looking to you for if they investigate this arrangement and decide against the company - the last thing you want is to have to pay the tax and NIC - especially when you are paying such a large amount to "company1" for their services. Unfortunately, I have come across quite a number of people using these type of schemes who lose out badly, either when the IR investigate, or when "company1" goes bankrupt leaving you without your wages! I'm not saying the scheme you are in is not legal or is in any way "doubtful" - after all, no-one knows which scheme you are using - but I would advise you to be very careful. Don't rely on what they tell you - check it out yourself.