xmas party - expense

[oxon1985]

Hi, im new to contracting and finding my feet.

quick question, if i wanted to have a xmas meal with partner (less than £150) i have read i can claim x amount back, do i just get the VAT back? (im registered for FRS) or the whole value?

do/can i use the company bank card? or personal and expense it?

thanks in advance

[Lance]

Hi, im new to contracting and finding my feet.

quick question, if i wanted to have a xmas meal with partner (less than £150) i have read i can claim x amount back, do i just get the VAT back? (im registered for FRS) or the whole value?

do/can i use the company bank card? or personal and expense it?

thanks in advance

Doesn't matter who pays.
Forget VAT if you're FRS. You already know this of course as you're already on FRS.
If you pay you can claim as a personal expense from the company. The company counts it as business entertainment so no further relief.
You must have receipts. You can only claim what's on your receipts.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

YourCo can pay for an annual event for its employees so long as the cost per head (including any other guests) is not more than £150.

As you're on the FRS YourCo will not be able to reclaim any VAT on this amount however it will be an allowable expense for CT purposes without incurring any BIK charge on you personally.

The event should be an annual event (you could have multiple: e.g. a summer BBQ and an Xmas party) and its primary purpose should be for the entertainment of its employees (and it must be open to all of them).

As such, this does not preclude inviting a guest that isn't an employee - there's no set limit on guests - but its all relative. An Xmas party for company with 100 employees plus some clients/suppliers would probably meet this test, a company with one director and no employees would probably only get away with inviting their partner or spouse.

If you have more than one event, the £150 limit is split between them.

I'm not sure it matters if you pay for it yourself and YourCo reimburses you but personally I'd try and put it on the company card so its clear that YourCo is paying for the event and you're not just claiming back the costs of a random meal from YourCo.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

The company counts it as business entertainment so no further relief.

It would not be business entertainment. OP is not entertaining clients. Their employer is paying for an annual event (Christmas party/meal) for its employee and one guest. It would qualify for a CT deduction so long as its within the limits.

[northernladuk]

Please think about using the search function to look for commonly asked questions. As you can imagine this is done to death every year.

The best method of searching the forums can be found in this link.

http://forums.contractoruk.com/welco...uk-forums.html

Thanks

[northernladuk]

Should the threads you find using the search not answer all your questions there is always you accountant you can ask.

[Lance]

It would not be business entertainment. OP is not entertaining clients. Their employer is paying for an annual event (Christmas party/meal) for its employee and one guest. It would qualify for a CT deduction so long as its within the limits.

quite right. My bad.

[northernladuk]

quite right. My bad.

And people complain about me telling OP's to go ask their accountant

[Lance]

It would not be business entertainment. OP is not entertaining clients. Their employer is paying for an annual event (Christmas party/meal) for its employee and one guest. It would qualify for a CT deduction so long as its within the limits.

quite right. My bad. I got confused as I took a client on my staff party earlier in the year.

[LondonManc]

And people complain about me telling OP's to go ask their accountant

It could be worse, you could be telling them to ask Lance.