Can I pay myself OOP expenses at any time?

[rob s]

Just switched to Ltd, and accountant is out of office, and I didn't think to ask this beforehand.

I've just been paid my January invoice. I have OOP expenses declared in freeagent for january, february and part of march (train tickets booked in advance). I have enough in the co to pay future expenses directly from company rather than OOP, but my question is:

Can I just pay myself January expenses now or all of them? eg. do I have to wait for February's invoice to be paid to pay myself February's OOP expenses?

I'm assuming not, and that the only requirements are legal/allowable expenses with receipts and enough money in the company - but would appreciate confirmation.

Thanks...

[Kenny@MyAccountantFriend]

You can repay your cash expenses at any time to your personal account provided the funds are available on the company.

The invoices do not have to sync with that months invoice.

[rob s]

You can repay your cash expenses at any time to your personal account provided the funds are available on the company.

The invoices do not have to sync with that months invoice.

Perfect - thanks Kenny

[northernladuk]

But surely you've paid the train therefore it isn't a future expense. It's a real expense that has occurred. The fact you haven't used the service yet is immaterial. It's still been paid for.

Asking if you have to wait for Feb invoice to pay Feb expenses (ignoring the comment above) is pretty basic and something you really should have a grasp on surely.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Pay them back as and when it makes sense to you. Monthly, weekly or whenever you can be bothered. The most important thing is your record keeping.

I actually log my individual expenses (each train journey, lunch etc.) in a spreadsheet and then batch them up and enter them into FreeAgent monthly (e.g. January Subsistence) and associate them with the project/contract they relate to. I find FreeAgent a bit lacking in the out of pocket expenses department (its the weakest feature I think) which is why I use a spreadsheet but my system isn't great either.

As to when I actually pay them - its a bit random, but its all recorded and logged properly so it doesn't really matter.

[rob s]

But surely you've paid the train therefore it isn't a future expense.

Yes, I mentioned this to illustrate that I wasn't intending to continue with OOP expenses to avoid the situation in the future.

It's a real expense that has occurred. The fact you haven't used the service yet is immaterial. It's still been paid for.

Asking if you have to wait for Feb invoice to pay Feb expenses (ignoring the comment above) is pretty basic and something you really should have a grasp on surely.

Yes, which is why I made the assumption and asked for confirmation. I only found one source that talked specifically about this matter which contradicted itself from one paragraph to the next.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Yes, I mentioned this to illustrate that I wasn't intending to continue with OOP expenses to avoid the situation in the future.

Remember, even if you pay for your own personal business expenses (travel, subsistence etc., i.e. anything that directly benefits you) directly from the company, they still need to be reported on your P11D unless you have a dispensation. You will need to report these on your self assessment with a separate claim for business expenses to ensure you don't pay any extra tax.