Resharper (R#), Which license is legal for an Ltd?

[houmie]

Resharper is a tool to help productivity in Visual Studio.

I am working as a contractor for an investment bank. For some reason there seem to be not enough global Resharper licenses for everyone. I can't be as productive without the tool as I would like to, and after some thoughts with other contractors, we decided to buy our own licenses and use it on our machines at the client site, as long as we are working here.

I have contacted the Resharper Sales department, which seem to be placed in Germany. I am not sure if they truly understood my situation, but they claim since I am a single user and I would be paying it myself rather than my client, I should buy a personal license yet I should not use my company details when placing the order.

It doesn't seem right to me though when I buy a license for my Ltd to expense it and yet not to mention it during purchase. On the other hand, I am tempted to pay less for the personal license than the cooperate license.

After my last email to the Sales person to recap what I understood, I didn't receive any further confirmation. It is very confusing :-\

Has anyone of you purchased a Resharper license for your Ltd and which license did you purchase?

Thanks,

[d000hg]

I don't use R# but I have Visual Assist X which I find better (I do a lot of C++). I bought the personal license for this and had no problem with doing so. I know I can't let anyone else use my license and that is fine.

[VectraMan]

I searched for the licence for you (it's okay, I'm a permie so my time is worthless), and it clearly says the difference is a commercial licence can be moved between people, and a personal licence is for one person only. So the latter.

[jmo21]

For me it's pretty clear what the answer is from the matrix here.

Jetbrains

If you use personal funds, you should buy the personal license. If it's company funds, you should buy the commercial license.

They are both allowed to be used for general commercial purposes so IMHO it's up to you, how likely do you think it is that you'll get caught and how much will your conscience will keep you up at night.

[houmie]

@VectraMan hehe you made my day. ) Mate I was a Permie until a month ago, so I can totally feel you.


@jmo21 Well It is not so much about conscience but money saving efficiency. If I purchased it as personal licence I would pay £111 from my after tax money. If I paid it as Commercial license that would be £185, which I could expense though. In the latter case I save the cooperate tax on the amount. However then the cooperate tax's difference is still perhaps less than if I bought it as a personal license.

I wonder if I still could expense it when I purchased a personal license. That would be ideal

[d000hg]

Imagine if they only offered a personal edition to a named individual. If a company needs that software, then they still buy it for the company.

I cannot possibly seeing HMRC checking the license of some cheap software you bought, which clearly is to do with software development, to quibble over such details. It's not like it's an iPad which might arouse suspicion. Only my personal view but I'd certainly buy it through my company bank account and claim the VAT back too if applicable. They clearly state it can be used for commercial purposes.

[jmo21]

@jmo21 Well It is not so much about conscience but money saving efficiency. If I purchased it as personal licence I would pay £111 from my after tax money. If I paid it as Commercial license that would be £185, which I could expense though. In the latter case I save the cooperate tax on the amount. However then the cooperate tax's difference is still perhaps less than if I bought it as a personal license.

I understand it's about saving money, and my answer is that it depends how much your conscience will allow you to pick the cheaper one just so you can save money, as opposed to the more expensive one, which really sounds like the one you should get.

[d000hg]

I understand it's about saving money, and my answer is that it depends how much your conscience will allow you to pick the cheaper one just so you can save money, as opposed to the more expensive one, which really sounds like the one you should get.

Having read in more detail, I guess I change my advice to buy personally and reclaim as an expense rather than buy through the company, however this is still fine because it's not uncommon for an employee to buy something for work and get their employer to reimburse them.

On the moral/ethical side, the commercial/business licenses are designed for 'real' companies not 1-man convenience companies like most contractors use. I don't think they set those rules up to force contractors to buy that license, if that helps.

[jmo21]

Having read in more detail, I guess I change my advice to buy personally and reclaim as an expense rather than buy through the company, however this is still fine because it's not uncommon for an employee to buy something for work and get their employer to reimburse them.

On the moral/ethical side, the commercial/business licenses are designed for 'real' companies not 1-man convenience companies like most contractors use. I don't think they set those rules up to force contractors to buy that license, if that helps.

I must have missed that in the license description

[Sysman]

What is this after tax money of which you speak?

Buy it personally & expense it from the company.

WZS