Re-claiming travel costs (newbie)

[oraclesmith]

I'm in a similar situation but I have been on the same site for almost 2 years (with several breaks) and I am about to swap from an umbrella to limited so how would that work? Do I just not claim travel expenses and everything else is ok or can I not claim anything at all?

If you carry on with the contract then you limit what expenses you can claim because the clients workplace becomes effectively your normal place of work. A limited company can have all sorts of overheads such as equipment, office space, website costs, etc but they generally only pay expenses to officers/employees who work away from the office on a temporary basis. Look at it from your companies point of view - is it normal to pay an employee their train fare to commute to and from the office ? No. But it would be normal to pay an employee to travel to a client site to carry out some limited-scope task ? Yes of course it would.

Also if I find myself on the bench for any period of time will an accountant still need paying regardless?

Normally yes. The per month payment is usually just an easy way of paying the £1k or so per annum it costs to do annual accounts, returns etc.

[Nixon Williams]

I'm in a similar situation but I have been on the same site for almost 2 years (with several breaks) and I am about to swap from an umbrella to limited so how would that work? Do I just not claim travel expenses and everything else is ok or can I not claim anything at all?

The rules are a bit crap to be honest as I did not intend or expect to stay so long it just worked out that way.

Also if I find myself on the bench for any period of time will an accountant still need paying regardless?

The rules relate to travel and accommodation etc, ie costs to get you to the site. You can still claim for mobiles, internet, laptops etc.

We charge a reduced fee if a client is not working (provided that they tell us!) so ask your accountant and see what response you get!

Alan

[gingerjedi]

Thanks for the help.