Are Expenses taxed as income?

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If employer says I can buy a monitor to work from home with and it is reimbursed as expenses  
Does the monitor belong to me?  
and when the money appears on my payslip will it be taxed as income?  

Brynsam

If your employer pays for it, why would it belong to you?

Reimbursement of expenses would not normally be subject to tax or NI,  if the item purchased belongs to the employer.

sharpe106

Why would you think it belonged to you? Do you think the computer at the office they provide for your use belongs to you?

Skint_yet_Again

We have been told by our employer that we can keep the monitor they have provided. So maybe best to check with your employer. We can’t keep the computer which was provided as it will have to be returned either when we go back to working in the office, or if we leave the employment before then. 

vacheron

Skint_yet_Again said:

We have been told by our employer that we can keep the monitor they have provided. So maybe best to check with your employer. We can’t keep the computer which was provided as it will have to be returned either when we go back to working in the office, or if we leave the employment before then. 

Then in your case the monitor may be considered a benefit in kind and may be taxed in that manner (the same may apply to the OP "if" they have been told the same.

• Company buys monitor for employee to use at home (not "company buys employee a monitor")
• Employee submits expenses form which is reimbursed in full without any tax implications. 
• Company they says employee can keep the monitor (gives it to the employee) which is now second hand.
• The value of the second hand monitor may be considered a benefit in kind and be taxed accordingly (unless it is considered to be of less than £50 value at the time.. 

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Skint_yet_Again said:

We have been told by our employer that we can keep the monitor they have provided. So maybe best to check with your employer. We can’t keep the computer which was provided as it will have to be returned either when we go back to working in the office, or if we leave the employment before then. 

Did you buy the monitor yourself with the promise of reimburment? Or did the employer deliver it to you?

To those who asked.. I don't think it will belong to me or not belong to me, I was asking in case there is some employment law which makes it black and white. As it is the situation is ambiguous, other types of expenses are not paid back  and  as you can see by this other reply above.  I have asked my employer no reply (big organisation).

ACG

If your employer pays you back for it, then it belongs to them. If it wasnt expensive they might not want it though as it will go down in value by the time you end up working from the office again. 

It is a reimbursement of an expense so it is not normally taxable. Your employer will be able to put it down as a business expense but thats nothing for you to worry about. 

steampowered

It depends on the employers' policies. Sometimes it will belong to the employer, sometimes it will belong to the employee.

In reality though, even if belongs to the employer, the employer is unlikely to want it back! Unless you leave their employment in the next few months I suppose.

LittleVoice

Employers, as different from users of self-employed contractors, are generally expected to provide their employees with the means of carrying out their work. 
If they asked you to buy the monitor and then reimbursed you and it is only to do your work, then it is not a taxable benefit.  Presumably you had some kind of monitor for your own use before this additional one was received.

sharpe106

If they pay for it, then it belongs to them, if they want it back again or not is a completely different question and you would need to ask them. If it a cheap monitor that they have got just for you to use at home whilst homeworking in the current situation it will probably be no use to them so they may not want it back.

Doshwaster

IT equipment older than 3-4 years it will often be written off by IT so some companies allow you can keep things (or pay a nominal sum to buy it - I once bought an old laptop for £50.) but if you were to leave employment in the first 3 years then they would certainly want it back.