Advice on new employment (PAYE) that won't pay travel & Accomodation

notmyrealname2018

Hi All, Hope someone can help!
I was made redundant a couple of months ago and after applying for HUNDRED's of jobs, have finally accepted an offer. That's the good news!
I am Manchester based and 3-4 days a week I will either be able to work from home or have an office here in Manchester I can work from. But as the first project they need me to work on (until May 2019) is London based, they need me in London 1 or 2 days every week. In the past I have done similar roles and don't mind the travel and staying away, and in the past my employer has always paid for travel and accommodation and meals etc while away.
In this new role however, the employer has said that the salary they negotiated for me was made slightly higher in order to allow for travel, and for that reason no travel and accommodation will be paid - unless they need me urgently and therefore I cannot get the cheapest train tickets.
The salary is good at 50k, however if I end up spending £200-£250 per week on travel and accommodation, this takes a chunk of my salary...
The tax office said I can do a self assessment and claim SOME of the costs of travel, but this is very confusing as I wouldn't know where to start, how to do a self assessment if I'm paid PAYE and what I can get back, and really am at a loss.
I start with them soon, and in my mind, even having to pay my own travel costs etc, i'm still better off than being unemployed, and in 6 months time my work will be mainly Manchester based anyway so it really is only temporary.
So do I suck it up and just go ahead, or is there a way I can claim some of this outgoing cost back, what should I be doing, where can I get help (other than the .gov forms and guides that confuse me even more), and in your opinion is there anything else I need to consider?

Thanks all, hoping someone replies with some guidance!

Love you all

Me.

TheManOfStraw

You can claim back TAX RELIEF from HMRC however this is it. E.g. say you paid tax on 50k income, then when you submit a claim of £5k, you will be paid the tax paid on the £5k expenses. This would be in the upper bracket so you would receive more.



If you are claiming expenses in excess of £2.5k then you don't have to register for self-assessment to claim the tax relief on these back and instead you can just do this through HMRC website.


If it's more than 2.5k, it's really easy to register for self-assesment and it's worth it. It's not difficult to submit this on a tax return as you would just enter the details from your p60 as well as the expenses you are reclaiming, then the repayment will swiftly follow. There aren't any particularly difficult reporting requirements.


Goodluck

tebthereb

If your salary was higher due to this expectation of travel and accomodation then it seems to me that they should have communicated that to you.

It that was not done, I would refer to your contract and your employer’s policies on travel to see if they should reimburse such travel and accomodation. I think it will be difficult for them to argue reimbursing these costs if the documents indicate they would normally and they have not agreed anything separately with you. How much you fight that point depends on your relationship with them.

As has been said if they won’t repay it your next best option is to seek tax relief which is likely to be 40% of the cost as a higher rate taxpayer.

I suppose it depends on the individual but many people don’t find self-assessment simple. HMRC are usually pretty sceptical of claims for relief against employment income as they will assume most employers will reimburse actual necessary work costs.

tripled

Your contract should say where your permanent place of work is.

When working at a different location, HMRC has guidelines allowing certain expenses to be offset against your income (salary). If your employer reimburses you, then there is nothing to offset, as there has been no cost to you. If your employer reimburses more than the guidelines allow, it is viewed as a benefit and you have to pay the tax on the difference, and if your employer reimburses you less (as in your case), then you can claim a tax rebate on the difference.

If your salary (after pension contributions and any other deductions) is 50k p/a, then you would fall into the 40% tax bracket. So if you purchased a train ticket for London for £100, which isn't reimbursed, you include that in your self-assessment. You income is now effectively £49,900, and so you will be refunded the 40% tax you paid, so £40.

If your expenses reduce your income below £46,350, then you will no longer be in the higher rate tax band. The basic rate tax band is 20%, so now any expenses you claim will only get 20% relief.

Usually it's better for an employer to pay expenses as they can claim back VAT where applicable. By paying you a higher salary, they will have to pay more National Insurance and pension contributions (assuming you enrol). You are also worse off as you will pay additional NI on the "extra" salary and you can't claim that back.

It might be worth trying to negotiate going down one set day per week for the first few months, and anything outside that (a change to the day, an additional day, an overnight stay, etc.) they should pay for - assuming you would be happy with that arrangement.