They used to provide work credit cards until 5 years ago when an audit uncovered that the system was being abused by senior managers. The business then cancelled all work credit cards and won’t entertain reintroducing them.
What they might entertain if you explain (with actual examples to drive home the point) that the current system is causing cashflow difficulties, and ask if you could have an advance or a float to help ease the issue.
This would be subject to tax and ni though.
Only if treated as a salary advance, not if an expenses advance
It would be seen as a "round sum allowance".
If it was going to be treated as exempt from tax/ni it would need much more monitoring and controls than the credit card situation, that the company couldn't control.
This is a ridiculous situation and they're copping out on their responsibilities. It does make me wonder what else isn't being reported properly.
They used to provide work credit cards until 5 years ago when an audit uncovered that the system was being abused by senior managers. The business then cancelled all work credit cards and won’t entertain reintroducing them.
What they might entertain if you explain (with actual examples to drive home the point) that the current system is causing cashflow difficulties, and ask if you could have an advance or a float to help ease the issue.
This would be subject to tax and ni though.
Only if treated as a salary advance, not if an expenses advance
It would be seen as a "round sum allowance".
If it was going to be treated as exempt from tax/ni it would need much more monitoring and controls than the credit card situation, that the company couldn't control.
This is a ridiculous situation and they're copping out on their responsibilities. It does make me wonder what else isn't being reported properly.
No, it would be an advance against receipted expenses rather than a flat rate
"Advance payments made to an employee by an employer to cover any necessary expenses or incidental overnight expenses the employee will incur in performing his or her duties are strictly loans.
In practice they are not treated as beneficial loans giving rise to tax charges where the following conditions are met:
the maximum amount advanced at any one time does not exceed £1,000
the advances are spent within six months and
the employee accounts to his or her employer at regular intervals for the expenditure of the sum advanced."
Clearly your company need to go back to the company card system. My company tried this on us a few years ago, recalled all our cards and paid expenses instead. Result was, over about a year, people missing important meetings, people not able to cover the bill while out with important clients .... It was so ridiculous and embarrassing. New Finance Director arrived, took one look, and nearly fell over. She then re-issued the cards with a much more precise usage guidance and much stricter receipts check system. Buy the wrong thing? Fine, but it will now be deduced at PAYE instead. Since then, no problems.
Hi I claim mileage and out of pocket expenses each month in arrears - we have to put in any expense claim for the previous month by 5th of following month and get expenses paid to us on 29th. So expenses I have accrued 1st - 30 June aren’t paid until 29 July.
I keep a separate credit card that I only use for work expenses but the cut off dates mean I have to pay my credit card bill by 19th of the month.
In essence any expenses I accrue from 1st to 17th of the month need paid off my credit card before I get the money back from work.
It wasn’t an issue when it was c £100 but now we are having to pay out to host client meetings as well and last month my expenses were £1100 but due to the cut off dates I have had to find £800 of my own money to pay the Cc bill or accrue interest (which work will not pay).
does this sound right or are my work taking advantage? I am just about to buy a new house and don’t have the cash flow to facilitate this going forward
I wouldn't class it as 'taking advantage' it's reasonably normal but it does place an expectation on people of being able to pay these things out of pocket and if it's an issue for you then you'd be well within your rights to raise it to your line manager.
When I had this kind of arrangement I used to love it as paying for flights and hotels and everything else was a nice little earner on points and cashback on my various cards which I lost when I got switched to a company card but I also see why it can be an issue for other people.
If its just a case of changing the payment date on your card bills that might be an easy solution, but if not then I think you should let your boss know that for the time being you won't be able to fund client meetings on your personal card and ask them what they want you to do instead.
There was a time when I was spending more than I could reasonably afford on expenses for the company. I asked them for an advance float so I avoided the problems faced by the OP.
Worked very well for me and not taxable as it's an advance on expenses.
I think you need to tell them that you can't afford to be lending them the funds each month, so ask how the expenses are to be dealt with moving forward - I am not sure what hosting client meetings involves - if this involves renting a room then surely they ccoul deal with that direct rather than via a credit card. If it is paying for meals then ask them to let you have the funds in cash anhead of the meeting and then return the change plus receipts afterwards.
Even if there was a problem with misuse of credit cards in the past, there is no reason they couldn't geta couple and have better systems in place to manage them, or limit who has them. Orr they could use prepaisd cards for the type of thing you are doing.
An alternative would be for you to flag up that the delay caues problem and ask them to commit to processing nad reimburing expneses more quickly - presumably if they reimbursed them twice a month instead of onceit would address the issue.
All posts are my personal opinion, not formal advice Always get proper, professional advice (particularly about anything legal!)
If you simply do not have the money, what do they suggest you do?
Have you ever said 'I have a meeting next week, my credit card is unavailable, how do you wish me to proceed'?
Your partner or even simple household expenditure 'could' mean you've already used what you are comfortable with on your card, I'm wondering what suggestions they have come up with, other than cancel the meeting? .
At one job, my husband told his boss that until he got paid X, he couldn't come to work in London the following day as he didn'y have enough money to fill the tank up. He followed it up with an email setting out the sums. Nothing happened. He drove to work, but didn't have enough money to fill the tank to get home. Husband called his manager's boss, forwarded the emails and the boss arranged an emergency BACS payment while husband sat in the services. He told husband to email him and he would make sure expenses were paid promptly in future and they were..
Replies
If it was going to be treated as exempt from tax/ni it would need much more monitoring and controls than the credit card situation, that the company couldn't control.
This is a ridiculous situation and they're copping out on their responsibilities. It does make me wonder what else isn't being reported properly.
"Advance payments made to an employee by an employer to cover any necessary expenses or incidental overnight expenses the employee will incur in performing his or her duties are strictly loans.
In practice they are not treated as beneficial loans giving rise to tax charges where the following conditions are met:
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim26155
When I had this kind of arrangement I used to love it as paying for flights and hotels and everything else was a nice little earner on points and cashback on my various cards which I lost when I got switched to a company card but I also see why it can be an issue for other people.
If its just a case of changing the payment date on your card bills that might be an easy solution, but if not then I think you should let your boss know that for the time being you won't be able to fund client meetings on your personal card and ask them what they want you to do instead.
Worked very well for me and not taxable as it's an advance on expenses.
Even if there was a problem with misuse of credit cards in the past, there is no reason they couldn't geta couple and have better systems in place to manage them, or limit who has them. Orr they could use prepaisd cards for the type of thing you are doing.
An alternative would be for you to flag up that the delay caues problem and ask them to commit to processing nad reimburing expneses more quickly - presumably if they reimbursed them twice a month instead of onceit would address the issue.