Temporary Workers for Agencies

windyridge1

I have been informed that if you are employed by an agency and travel from home to temporary work place, you can claim your petrol/parking. Anyone heard of it?

This is a link to the pdf file for further info...

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/490.pdf

I am waiting to receive a form from the gov. for me to complete, but if this is the case it looks promising:j

gazhawkins

Assuming you're a PAYE employee of the agency, this is technically possible - though in reality very difficult to achieve. I myself managed this only the once.

If your agency is based in say, Newcastle, but your assignment is in say Leeds and you live in York. It's possible to claim legitimate expenses from York to Leeds. However, getting agreement from HMRC for this is very difficult - ie they're unlikely to pay up. It costs nothing to try though.

If you're being paid over roughly 10 pounds an hour as a PAYE employee of the agency - you can investigate becoming a LTD. Co. contractor. This way, you're allowed to claim legitimate business expenses (eg Petrol, Food and workwear).

This is a very complicated subject and I would advise you to get some good advice (eg from a trusted accountant). There are very important legal and taxation implications to be considered.

There are companies that offer to manage your Ltd. Co. on your behalf, or you can set one up yourself and have an accountant run the accounts for you.

Katgoddess

Reed do this automatically for you. I just put my daily round trip milage on the time sheet and I got an extra £10 ish a week. They only started doing this at the end of last year so I got some nice back pay as well. They call it Reed Travel Benefit, but like gazhawkins says they've probably persuaded the HMRC on behalf of it's staff.

WHA

gazhawkins wrote: »

There are companies that offer to manage your Ltd. Co. on your behalf

Not any more - these were outlawed wef 6/4/07, so the choice is now between PAYE or your own limited company (with or without an accountant's help).

gazhawkins

WHA - As an engineer, perhaps I'm not well placed to pick an argument with an accountant.

However, my understanding of the latest reams of budget legislation was that Composite/Umbrella companies have been outlawed - but Personal Service Companies have not (yet).

These are effectively the same thing as setting up your own LTD. co and using the services of an accountant - ie being a responsible Director of a Ltd. Co. and being paid Director's fees and receiving dividends - which are now subject to 20% tax following the increase in smaller company taxes in the budget.

The choice of using an accountant or using companies such as Brooksons, Paystream and many others comes down to cost, convenience, personal circumstances/choice and the ability to find an accountant you can a) trust and b) is competent and fully up to speed with the rapid and enormous amount of changes in legislation from one G Brown Esq.

WHA

I fully agree. However, "a company that offers to manage your company for you" may well fall foul of the rules - what you need is to manage it yourself, with the help of an accountant if necessary to avoid being regarded as a managed service company.

It was the way your post read that suggested you EITHER get a firm to run your company for you, or do it yourself. Everything you have posted is correct, I was merely trying to clear up any potential confusion for other readers of the post.

gazhawkins

Apologies for my wording; I'll stick with engineering for now and leave the accounting to the experts!

:beer:

cazziebo

windyridge1 wrote: »

I have been informed that if you are employed by an agency and travel from home to temporary work place, you can claim your petrol/parking. Anyone heard of it?

This is a link to the pdf file for further info...

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/490.pdf

I am waiting to receive a form from the gov. for me to complete, but if this is the case it looks promising:j

Yes I've heard this too, and some agencies are now helping employees to claim it. I think the first 5 miles is deducted so you can only claim the difference between the 5 and actual mileage (10 for a round trip). But over a year that might add up.

If you get mileage paid (ie if you do a number of temp jobs) then you can also claim the difference in the paid rate and the HMRC rate of 40p.

I've heard this second hand but from someone who is claiming it.

Good luck - better in your pocket than theirs!

windyridge1

cazziebo wrote: »

Yes I've heard this too, and some agencies are now helping employees to claim it. I think the first 5 miles is deducted so you can only claim the difference between the 5 and actual mileage (10 for a round trip). But over a year that might add up.

If you get mileage paid (ie if you do a number of temp jobs) then you can also claim the difference in the paid rate and the HMRC rate of 40p.

I've heard this second hand but from someone who is claiming it.

Good luck - better in your pocket than theirs!

Thanks, the form arrived today suggesting 40p per mile and I did 3,150 last year. Sending it off tomorrow