Expenses Ltd company director can claim while in isolation

jtsteven

Hi,
I have just returned from working in the Netherlands and am now isolating for 10 days at home, my question is, apart from claiming for my 2nd and 8th day PCR tests, is there anything else I claim for?
Thanks,
Jason

Ebe_Scrooge

You can continue to claim for any legitimate company expenses.  Phone calls, postage costs, whatever, as long as they're genuinely incurred as a necessary part of continuing to run the business.

MattMattMattUK

jtsteven said:

Hi,
I have just returned from working in the Netherlands and am now isolating for 10 days at home, my question is, apart from claiming for my 2nd and 8th day PCR tests, is there anything else I claim for?
Thanks,
Jason

Was your travel entirely for work? Only if the travel was for work can you claim the costs of the PCR tests. 

CKhalvashi

MattMattMattUK said:

jtsteven said:

Hi,
I have just returned from working in the Netherlands and am now isolating for 10 days at home, my question is, apart from claiming for my 2nd and 8th day PCR tests, is there anything else I claim for?
Thanks,
Jason

Was your travel entirely for work? Only if the travel was for work can you claim the costs of the PCR tests. 

I would assume that as OP states they were working in NL, the answer to this is yes.

As above, you can claim any expense incurred as a result of being in business, which includes working from home.

Thrugelmir

Working from home shouldn't incur much in the way of costs at all. 

Jeremy535897

MattMattMattUK said:

jtsteven said:

Hi,
I have just returned from working in the Netherlands and am now isolating for 10 days at home, my question is, apart from claiming for my 2nd and 8th day PCR tests, is there anything else I claim for?
Thanks,
Jason

Was your travel entirely for work? Only if the travel was for work can you claim the costs of the PCR tests. 

This is incorrect. See https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim31811
Although the PCR tests are not travel in themselves, as the travel could not have happened without the PCR tests, if the travel was necessary, it qualifies and so do the PCR tests. See
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim31965

michael1234

MattMattMattUK said:

jtsteven said:

Hi,
I have just returned from working in the Netherlands and am now isolating for 10 days at home, my question is, apart from claiming for my 2nd and 8th day PCR tests, is there anything else I claim for?
Thanks,
Jason

Was your travel entirely for work? Only if the travel was for work can you claim the costs of the PCR tests. 

Do we have any reason to be unfriendly to the OP by questioning his assumptions and answering a different question to the one he asks?

Pennywise

michael1234 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

jtsteven said:

Hi,
I have just returned from working in the Netherlands and am now isolating for 10 days at home, my question is, apart from claiming for my 2nd and 8th day PCR tests, is there anything else I claim for?
Thanks,
Jason

Was your travel entirely for work? Only if the travel was for work can you claim the costs of the PCR tests. 

Do we have any reason to be unfriendly to the OP by questioning his assumptions and answering a different question to the one he asks?

I don't think it was being unfriendly at all.  With all things tax, the devil is in the detail.  Some people (no disrespect to the OP) think they can claim everything just because they're self employed.  So, the nature of the travel is fundamental to whether it's allowable or not.  "Working in the NL" doesn't mean that working was the only purpose/motivation for the travel.

Grumpy_chap

I understand that if the primary purpose of the trip is work, then incidental activities out of work hours are also permitted and it still qualifies as business expenditure.  Not required to imprison oneself in the hotel room when away from the work location.

Jeremy535897

Yes, if you read the link in my earlier post, that explains the point clearly:

"An employee has to travel to New York on business for two weeks. While she is there she has a free weekend and spends it taking a break in Boston. The cost of her flight to New York and any other necessary travelling expenses are deductible. They have been necessarily incurred in travelling to a temporary workplace. The fact that the break in Boston means that the travelling expenses have not been incurred wholly and exclusively for business does not matter.

The costs of the break in Boston, such as travelling to Boston from New York and the cost of staying in Boston, are not deductible. These expenses are not attributable to attendance at the temporary workplace."

MattMattMattUK

Jeremy535897 said:

MattMattMattUK said:

jtsteven said:

Hi,
I have just returned from working in the Netherlands and am now isolating for 10 days at home, my question is, apart from claiming for my 2nd and 8th day PCR tests, is there anything else I claim for?
Thanks,
Jason

Was your travel entirely for work? Only if the travel was for work can you claim the costs of the PCR tests. 

This is incorrect. See https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim31811
Although the PCR tests are not travel in themselves, as the travel could not have happened without the PCR tests, if the travel was necessary, it qualifies and so do the PCR tests. See
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim31965

The reason I asked (and I might have phrased it badly) is that I was curious, was the travel for work, or were they working whilst they had travelled. Eg. I can work from anywhere in the world with a good broadband connection, so I could be in the Netherlands for other reasons, but still working.

I know travel is technically only supposed to be for business/essential family reasons, so if they were travelling for essential family reasons, but working whilst out there, I do not believe that they would be eligible to reclaim the cost. Although of course I have known (and indeed used to work for someone) who took every holiday as a business expense because they were all "team building" as his partner was on the payroll, obviously there is a wide range of behaviour in between that and working whilst away. 

Perhaps it was the "is there anything else I can claim for?" part that triggered my perception of it not being business related, eg most directors would know that if it was a business trip then it is claimable, if it is not business and they just did some work whilst out there that it is not.