Used personal airmiles for business travel

[peterc2609]

I think I will just write it all off....

Points were accrued though personal credit cards etc.

I paid the additional APD on that credit card.

Seems simpler just to stick with it how it is... i.e. I paid for the flight myself. The End.

[GillsMan]

I think that's the sensible solution. You could in theory ensure that your LtdCo pays for use of the Avios points, but that seems a hassle. Here's an article on how much to value your Avios at (no idea if you used Avios or another type of air mile):

What is an Avios point worth?

Personally, I wouldn't fly first class on business travel - I'd save that for personal. But I absolutely fly business class wherever possible.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I think you'd be hard pushed to justify expensing something that you haven't actually paid for

[TheFaQQer]

I think you'd be hard pushed to justify expensing something that you haven't actually paid for

You would have paid for it - the company pays the employee for the points. The points have a value, though, so can be sold to the company.

The employee then has to pay tax on it as income, so I can't see any benefit in doing it.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I don't see any reason to make this complicated.

Travel is incurred personally whether the company pays for it or you do and are reimbursed. It's treated the same either way.

If OP bought their ticket at a discount due to having airmiles then I would say that the simplest thing is to reclaim the net cost as an expense.

An alternative way of thinking about it is that the employees out of pocket expense was the cost of the flight plus the monetary value of the airmiles. I wouldn't value the airmiles used as any more than the amount of discount OP got. Therefore the total cost to the employee is the pre discount cost if the flights so OP should recover the gross cost from their Co.

Separate to this is whether the expense is tax deductible and this of course depends on the usual rules around business travel.

There's nothing in the travel rules that state you can't travel first class, as long as the journey is wholly, exclusively and neccesarily for business purposes.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

You would have paid for it - the company pays the employee for the points. The points have a value, though, so can be sold to the company.

The employee then has to pay tax on it as income, so I can't see any benefit in doing it.

sorry rephrase - you'd be hard pushed to expense something through the company that the company hasn't paid for and as the initial travel was personal IMHO you'd have no chance

[TheFaQQer]

sorry rephrase - you'd be hard pushed to expense something through the company that the company hasn't paid for and as the initial travel was personal IMHO you'd have no chance

The company would pay for it, though.

The employee sells a discounted ticket to the company which allows for first class travel. The company could have paid the full fare, but instead chose to pay a lower amount than the full fare. How the employee obtained the discount is neither here nor there, IMHO.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

The company would pay for it, though.

The employee sells a discounted ticket to the company which allows for first class travel. The company could have paid the full fare, but instead chose to pay a lower amount than the full fare. How the employee obtained the discount is neither here nor there, IMHO.

You could be right but I can't see HMRC wearing it. You travel for personal reasons, not business - in return you get some points which then entitle you to an element of 'free' travel - you then pass this advantage to your LTDCo but for a price. I really can't see how you'd justify it in such a way that HMRC would say okey dokey.

[TheFaQQer]

You could be right but I can't see HMRC wearing it. You travel for personal reasons, not business - in return you get some points which then entitle you to an element of 'free' travel - you then pass this advantage to your LTDCo but for a price. I really can't see how you'd justify it in such a way that HMRC would say okey dokey.

I have a £5 voucher from Tesco because of my personal shopping. I go to Tesco and buy £10 worth of printer paper for my business. I pay for the paper using £5 cash and £5 voucher. What should I charge my company - the £5 in real money that it cost me, or the £10 that the item actually cost?

[malvolio]

I have a £5 voucher from Tesco because of my personal shopping. I go to Tesco and buy £10 worth of printer paper for my business. I pay for the paper using £5 cash and £5 voucher. What should I charge my company - the £5 in real money that it cost me, or the £10 that the item actually cost?

Trick question. Nobody sensible buys company stuff personally...

But if you do, it's £10 if you only use the paper for company business*. Otherwise, whatever you want as an expense claim up to the market value of the goods but it's a BIK.



* I don't. I buy paper for my own use and don't care in MyCo uses some of it.