Working abroad expense

[cwah]

If I decide to work from home - and hence require a desk/chair etc - then is the company paying for expenses related to my personal choice?

If I decide that the distractions of working from home are too great, and I decide to rent a small office - then is the company paying for expenses related to my personal choice?

In both cases, the company does not require me to work from home or an office, unless that's in my contract of employment with my ltd.

If I happen to be abroad, and the company requires me to work - then why can't I book a room with a desk and fast wifi? After al, it's not my personal choice to work - but a demand from the company?

I'm just trying to test the boundaries as it is a bit confusing...

Real example, I'm working from my home office. Some of the servers are noisy...so I bought a pair of noise cancelling headphones. Is that an allowable expense?

--Jatinder

I'd assume your noise cancelling headphones are allowable expense right? If not, I can't even see what can be allowable expense for work then.

And do you expense your wifi and phone when working from home? Is it not allowable expense? I thought it was

[cwah]

I believe HMRC guidance on that is to be expensable, the ‘wholly and exclusively’ test can only be satisfied if the sole reason for incurring the expenditure is for the purposes of the trade.

You work from home and want desk/chairs, yes it's your choice. But is it wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the trade?

I'd say yes.

[northernladuk]

If I decide to work from home - and hence require a desk/chair etc - then is the company paying for expenses related to my personal choice?

Well you have to work somewhere so home is your chosen permanent place of work. You can claim the £6 and you can buy equipment for your office.

If I decide that the distractions of working from home are too great, and I decide to rent a small office - then is the company paying for expenses related to my personal choice?

Then that office becomes your permanent place of work and you could claim the rent but can't claim your home desk, chair and £6. Your business needs to have a permanent place of business. You can chose where that is but you can't chop and change as you fancy.

In both cases, the company does not require me to work from home or an office, unless that's in my contract of employment with my ltd.

Remember the office is generally a client site and is a temporary place of work and being their is a business journey hence you claiming the milage. Your business still needs a permanent base.

If I happen to be abroad, and the company requires me to work - then why can't I book a room with a desk and fast wifi? After al, it's not my personal choice to work - but a demand from the company?

Depends if it's your permanent place of work. If it's a temp place just because you fancy it, as per the OP, then no, you can't claim it. It's your personal choice to work away from the business's permanent place of work.

I'm just trying to test the boundaries as it is a bit confusing...

Real example, I'm working from my home office. Some of the servers are noisy...so I bought a pair of noise cancelling headphones. Is that an allowable expense?

--Jatinder

No one is gonna complain about headphones. You need headphones, they aren't that expensive and the tax man really isn't going to quibble over something that is needed by the business.

Think about your location as permanent or temporary and what is a reasonable purchase for the companys needs. If you want to get a posher set then fair enough as long as the business needs it. That should give you your answer for most black and white examples.

[northernladuk]

I'd assume your noise cancelling headphones are allowable expense right? If not, I can't even see what can be allowable expense for work then.

And do you expense your wifi and phone when working from home? Is it not allowable expense? I thought it was

Wifi isn't as it's deemed that the personal use will outstrip the business use, which is a fair assumption in 99.99% of the case. If you get a second line installed purely for the business then yes you can expense that. Your mainly personal one then no.

Phones have exceptions so you are fine with that.

First step, is it wholly and exclusively? If it's questionable then apply some common sense and if that fails either ask your accountant or don't claim it.

[northernladuk]

And if you don't know, do a search. SOmeone will have asked about it. We've had all sorts of weird and wonderful
questions.

<keyword> site:forums.contractoruk.com

[cwah]

I had a look and most questions relate to contractors working abroad for business reason. But in my case it's different I couldn't find something that match

[WTFH]

If I decide to work from home - and hence require a desk/chair etc - then is the company paying for expenses related to my personal choice?

If I decide that the distractions of working from home are too great, and I decide to rent a small office - then is the company paying for expenses related to my personal choice?

In both cases, the company does not require me to work from home or an office, unless that's in my contract of employment with my ltd.

If I happen to be abroad, and the company requires me to work - then why can't I book a room with a desk and fast wifi? After al, it's not my personal choice to work - but a demand from the company?

I'm just trying to test the boundaries as it is a bit confusing...

Real example, I'm working from my home office. Some of the servers are noisy...so I bought a pair of noise cancelling headphones. Is that an allowable expense?

--Jatinder

you have jumped from “working from home” to “happen to be abroad”, almost like Withnail and I.
Someone doesn’t accidentally happen to wake up one morning and find themselves abroad, choosing to book accommodation somewhere that has bad mobile phone signal, even though 5 minutes down the road is a business park with offices to rent.

if you choose to move abroad, then your company doesn’t pay for your personal choice to do that. You’d have to sort out taxes and how your company would be run, and what would happen if your client, who signed a contract and agreed a rate based on you being in the UK discovers that the UK LTD they had engaged had offshored the work to a cheaper location or if they wanted you to come onsite for meetings?

[Lance]

And to add to the previous point, I could also book separately a working space for work for a neat separation. But it would end up way more expensive to have to book for accomodation AND working space.

Would make much more sense to have one that does both. But then the taxman may disagree with this

Yes you can. yes it would be an excellent separation.
Yes more expensive.
And the taxman would disagree.

So you know the facts, and the answer. Stop trolling.

[cwah]

you have jumped from “working from home” to “happen to be abroad”, almost like Withnail and I.
Someone doesn’t accidentally happen to wake up one morning and find themselves abroad, choosing to book accommodation somewhere that has bad mobile phone signal, even though 5 minutes down the road is a business park with offices to rent.

if you choose to move abroad, then your company doesn’t pay for your personal choice to do that. You’d have to sort out taxes and how your company would be run, and what would happen if your client, who signed a contract and agreed a rate based on you being in the UK discovers that the UK LTD they had engaged had offshored the work to a cheaper location or if they wanted you to come onsite for meetings?

I actually tell them I'm abroad so they are fully aware. But I'm still UK resident. I have an UK address. And I'm just temporarily abroad.

If they want me onsite they need to tell me and I can come. It's not like i m in the other side of the world

[cwah]

Yes you can. yes it would be an excellent separation.
Yes more expensive.
And the taxman would disagree.

So you know the facts, and the answer. Stop trolling.

Ok I'm not trolling. But just to be clear on what you said. Would the taxman disagree only on expensing part of the accomodation only or also disagree of having a separate work desk while abroad?

I know there was example above that if my home was too noisy and I wanted to work in a more quiet environment even in the UK it should be my own responsability. However a work space office is clearly wholly and exclusively for the purpose of the trade, even though it's due to my lifestyle choice