Travel expenses: Oyster top up receipts or Travel History Report?

[ndl]

Hello everyone,

I've been wondering what is the best way to account for travel expenses using the Tube in London. I spend £32/week travel to/from my client. I top up the Oyster card with the limited company's debit card and keep the receipts. Would these be enough to justify the travel expenses if HMRC decides to check my books in the future? Or would it be worth keeping the Travel History Report from the TFL web site as well?

Thank you.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I always topped up my Oyster personally and claimed for business journeys, keeping travel reports as evidence.

In theory having an Oyster card available to you that is topped up from the business bank account has the potential to incur a BIK as you could potentially make use of it for non business journeys.

That being said I'd hope HMRC would take a pragmatic view of this. Perhaps if you have a dedicated business oyster and personal oyster that might be enough to satisfy them that the business card should incur no BIK but then who knows with HMRC.

Of some interest might be HMRC's own guidance for THEIR employees on the use of travel cards and Oyster cards which might give you a clue as to how they interpret the rules:

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...nce_policy.pdf

Personally I no longer see the need for an Oyster card. Use contactless instead. You can use your business card if it supports it or use your personal card and expense it (no need to worry about P11d any more for this kind of thing). No topups, just keep a log of the journeys made.

[ndl]

Thank you for a quick reply. After opening a limited company I bought a new Oyster card which I intended to use for business travel only. Would the travel history report from TFL web site along with the receipts be enough for HMRC or should I start topping it up from my personal account and claiming the expenses (can't see a difference here, since I could still use the card for my personal reasons, but obviously I won't)?

[eek]

The advantage of a registered Oyster card is that you can download your monthly journeys and mark off the couple of evening trips across town - then expense the rest

[northernladuk]

I believe Barclay's have started offering contactless cards to small business so get one of these so it comes straight out of your bank account?

[Jessica@WhiteFieldTax]

I've never known HMRC go as far as asking for travel logs, so I wouldn't loose too much sleep, but it's sensible to think about it and download and keep,the logs if you can to be safe.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I believe Barclay's have started offering contactless cards to small business so get one of these so it comes straight out of your bank account?

HSBC business debit is contactless too.

[SueEllen]

Personally I no longer see the need for an Oyster card. Use contactless instead. You can use your business card if it supports it or use your personal card and expense it (no need to worry about P11d any more for this kind of thing). No topups, just keep a log of the journeys made.

TFL randomly do concessions that are available on Oyster but not on contactless.

Plus the log that is generated is useful if you have to prove something.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

TFL randomly do concessions that are available on Oyster but not on contactless.

Plus the log that is generated is useful if you have to prove something.

You can get journey logs with contactless payments too.