RE: FN-FORUM: re:charging

date posted 27th September 2005 18:58

You've not seen how much I eat ;)=20

-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL REMOVED] [EMAIL REMOVED] On Behalf Of Mike A
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 10:23 AM
To: Andy Macnaughton-Jones
Subject: Re: FN-FORUM: re:charging


Thorny Bird wrote:
> That's interesting! When I went on a local network business course=20
> with an accountant and the local vat office (about 10 years ago), we=20
> were told under self employed rules you were not allowed to claim=20
> 'lunch expenses'. I think bigger companies can, and if you are an=20
> employee - you are naturally reimbursed by the company.
>
> Perhaps the rules have changed!

Yes, the rules have changed back and forth on lunch issues. It's a much
misunderstood topic. Lunch for someone such as a service engineer
working outside of a territorial radius is claimable, if the company
have agreed so with IR. Lunch with a foreign business client is
claimable, in most but not all circumstances. Lunch when working far
away is claimable in certain circumstances but to be safe it's better to
claim the difference between what would normally be paid and the away
meal (for example at a far away motorway service station when on a long
business journey and it's arguably dangerous or not conducive to best
business practices to continue driving).
It gets more complicated.

I once had a builder client who insisted that ever time he travelled
home for lunch, which his wife made, he should be able to reclaim the
costs of food and power to make it. He kept all receipts! Interestingly,
no charges for or from the wife. Compare that against the above
examples!

Bottom line, if it sounds practical and straightforward, without any
hint of fantasy or absurdity, it's usually okay. VAT issues are
different. One can often claim against IR but not VAT, especially as
regards lunches!

So what happens if one buys cooking facilities? Let's say an office
microwave for heating snacks... claimable, both IR and VAT! The general
claim is that it's part of customer care when clients visit and as such
a genuine cost of trade. However, all tiny stuff. Concentrate on
claiming for high value assets and expenditure.

HTH.

Mike A.



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