Receipts when working away

agrinnall

Perhaps you need to come at this from a different direction. How did you pay for the fuel? Can you provide some other evidence of payment, such as a credit card statement?

phill99

Alico wrote: »

I won't forget the receipt again because I won't be working away again and I have no intention of giving them £50.

Seems like you won't be working for them at all then. If you have no intention of repaying them, this may be very well be classed as fraud, which is normally Gross Misconduct. Be very careful of the implications of this.

trailingspouse

You say that you and a colleague were working away and 'we forgot' to get a receipt. Although I don't see how two people can get a receipt (an individual fills the car up, they go to pay, they get a receipt), are you basically saying that you paid and your colleague didn't remind you to get a receipt? Or did you pay £25 each?

Anyway, has your employer approached your colleague for the missing receipt?

Personally I would be chalking it up to experience - you knew you needed receipts (it would be surprising if you didn't), you didn't get one, no-one to blame but yourself. Seems petty to put your job on the line about it. If you have a paper trail (eg credit card statement showing the amount going out), they might be able to accept that as evidence (although they won't be able to use it to reclaim the VAT, and that will be one of the reasons they need a receipt). As they have already paid you, they might be prepared to do this - but you need to play nice.

Takeaway_Addict

Alico wrote: »

I understand that I need to get receipts but, is it wrong of them to ask me to give them the money back out of my own pocket when we fail to get a receipt? I think if this was the case not many people would work away.

Its petty if a one off from the employer but thinking from their side....how can you prove you had this fuel?

TELLIT01

Alico wrote: »

I understand that I need to get receipts but, is it wrong of them to ask me to give them the money back out of my own pocket when we fail to get a receipt? I think if this was the case not many people would work away.

Presumably the expenses were paid on the basis that you would provide the receipt at a later date. You have failed to do this so it is perfectly reasonable for the company to demand repayment.
Most people who work away from the office know that they need to provide receipts and do so. They don't say they won't work away because they need to prove expenditure.

Doshwaster

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Presumably the expenses were paid on the basis that you would provide the receipt at a later date. You have failed to do this so it is perfectly reasonable for the company to demand repayment.
Most people who work away from the office know that they need to provide receipts and do so. They don't say they won't work away because they need to prove expenditure.

In the real world, receipts do sometimes get lost or forgotten and any sensible expense policy will be able to cope with this for occasional lapses rather than punishing the employee for a genuine mistake.

I always pay for everything for work by credit card so the bank will always have a record of the transaction even if I lose or forget the receipt. In addition, if I do get a receipt I take a photo of it on my phone in case it gets lost. Never pay for anything in cash that you plan to claim the cost for.

Scorpio33

From experience, most companies won't pay without some back up, due to the requirements from both HMRC as well as the internal and external auditors. It can affect the tax liabilities as well as the audited costs to the business massively.

A typical policy would state something like receipts are required and that employees are advised to keep a copy of all receipts in case of issues with receipts going missing. However, if this is the first time you have lost receipts, then they would probably accept some other proof (ie: bank statement or credit card receipts). They may let you off without receipts, but this would be highly unusual, and at their discretion.

The other aspect is that if you refuse to work away in the future and if this is a requirement in your role, then you may find yourself under disciplinary procedures due to your capability to perform the role: ie: Your role requires you to work away, and you are unable to.

TBagpuss

£50 is a fair amount, so it's reasonable for them to ask.

I'd suggest that you ask whethe they will accept alternative proof, such as a copy of the relevent page of your bank / credit card statement (you can blank out other transactions if you have anything sensitive)

However, as others have said, it is fairly standard to require receipts and if you can't provide proof of expenditure then it is not unreasonable to expect you to repay the money, as the company has no evidence that the expense was incurred.

burnoutbabe

as a one off, I'd still pay the expense - one assumes you drove to and from some place and the petrol cost of £50 is about what the petrol would cost (or is this a pool car??)
Else how do they think you got to this location (do they think you walked and are trying to scam them out of petrol money)

Savvy_Sue

burnoutbabe wrote: »

as a one off, I'd still pay the expense - one assumes you drove to and from some place and the petrol cost of £50 is about what the petrol would cost (or is this a pool car??)

You might do this as a one off, I might do this as a one off, but I would not recommend the OP take this as an indication that their employer should / would / might / could / WILL let this drop.

It's not an accusation of theft. It's a reminder that expense claims must be backed up with receipts - and it's a company policy because HMRC require proof of expenses which are reimbursed. If the fuel was paid for with a credit or debit card, then producing the statement which shows the payment may be adequate. But with no paperwork, I suggest the OP asks their equally forgetful colleague to share the loss, £25 each, and reimburses the employer.