Claiming Business Expenses

Adzha

I've read on the HMRC website that you can apply for tax relief on some business expenses, including business mileage and costs incurred whilst travelling.

If it's possible, I'd like to take advantage of this, but I'm confused whether the following can be claimed:

• Mileage travelled to college (attended twice weekly as part of my job, but not contractual) and exam attendance
• The cost of evening meal when staying overnight at a conference in London
• The £5/night incidental allowance for staying away from home on business

My employer has not made a contribution towards any of these expenses.

Please could anyone help with this?

Thanks

booler

You need to get your employer to reimburse you for these expenses.

Adzha

booler wrote: »

You need to get your employer to reimburse you for these expenses.

OK, thanks.

My employer will not reimburse these expenses, so they are paid out of my taxed income - does this mean I'm unable to reclaim the tax relief on these through a P87?

00ec25

Adzha wrote: »

• Mileage travelled to college (attended twice weekly as part of my job, but not contractual) and exam attendance

you need to explain what the course is for
- you cannot claim costs of the course if it is for you to acquire a new qualification.
- you can claim costs if the coruse is an update for a qualification you already hold


eg you cannot claim for training to become a plumber, but once you are a qualified plumber, you can claim for costs of courses to update your skills

• The cost of evening meal when staying overnight at a conference in London

if the conference was wholly work related and was not related to you college coruse then yes you can claim those costs

• The £5/night incidental allowance for staying away from home on business

NO - the £5 per night is a special dispensation given to employers so they can pay up to that amount tax free. If you were not paid it by your company then you cannot claim it as it is intendned to cover incidemntal expenses which are not wholly and exclusively necessary for your job

see section 240
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/guidance/480_appendix8.pdf
Employee’s unreimbursed incidental overnight expenses
The special exemption for incidental overnight expenses is designed to reduce the burden on employers of identifying and reporting to HMRC what would otherwise be taxable expenses. So there is no relief for expenses which are not reimbursed by the employer

see above,
1. maybe, more info required
2. probably
3. certainly not

Adzha

00ec25 wrote: »

see above,
1. maybe, more info required
2. probably
3. certainly not

Thanks for your reply - the key item here is mileage to college where the tax relief would add up, I'm not too worried about a one-off meal.

I work in an accounting role and have been attending a college in the evenings (two nights a week) to study the AAT qualification on a yearly basis (each course runs September through to July). The college builds on some existing skills used in the workplace and adds knowledge in other accounting areas, tuition is paid for by a training provider, but this is through an arrangement with my employer.

The journeys are made from my workplace to college in the evening, with a return trip being from college back to home. In year one, I car shared with 3 others, but the past two years I've been driving alone due to other changes.

The conference was an employee benefits event related to my work at that time and unrelated to any college study.

Thanks for your help

00ec25

Adzha wrote: »

I work in an accounting role and have been attending a college in the evenings (two nights a week) to study the AAT qualification on a yearly basis (

sorry , forgot about this post

nice simple answer - you absolutely cannot claim any costs in your case,
no travel, no course materials - ask your tutors to explain why!

tax relief on "training"/education is not available where it leads to a new qualification. Where the qualification puts you in a better position than you were before you started it relief is not allowed. Or in more formal terms your taining octss are not directly linked to the performance of your duties - yes AAT will enable you to be a better bookkeeper, but you are not being a bookkeeper whilst at college, instead you are being a student. You are not employed to be a student!

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM32525.htm

Once you get your AAT then any CPD requirements are allowed

if you go on to do a full accountancy qualification (sorry I'm biased!) then the same applies, eg: ACCA :cool: is at your own cost, no tax relief until you qualifiy, only then can you claim all the costs of the ongoing CPD requirements

Adzha

00ec25 wrote: »

sorry , forgot about this post

nice simple answer - you absolutely cannot claim any costs in your case,
no travel, no course materials - ask your tutors to explain why!

tax relief on "training"/education is not available where it leads to a new qualification. Where the qualification puts you in a better position than you were before you started it relief is not allowed. Or in more formal terms your taining octss are not directly linked to the performance of your duties - yes AAT will enable you to be a better bookkeeper, but you are not being a bookkeeper whilst at college, instead you are being a student. You are not employed to be a student!

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM32525.htm

Once you get your AAT then any CPD requirements are allowed

if you go on to do a full accountancy qualification (sorry I'm biased!) then the same applies, eg: ACCA :cool: is at your own cost, no tax relief until you qualifiy, only then can you claim all the costs of the ongoing CPD requirements

Thank you, I really appreciate your time in interpreting the guidance for me