Can my business buy my travel tickets?

[wanstronian]

I'm set up as a limited company, working on a project that's outside IR35.

I'm aware that business travel is a legitimate expense and that I, as an employee of my company, can pay for travel then claim it back.

This seems to be a bit inefficient. Far easier to buy business travel tickets directly from my business account. However, I can't find anything online that tells me whether this is allowed. Google just keeps telling me that travel is a claimable expense.

So: can my business buy my travel tickets, or do I need to jump through the additional hoops of buying it on my personal account, submitting an expense claim, then paying myself back from the business account?

Thanks in advance.

[WTFH]

Your accountant will help you with this one.

[northernladuk]

Crikey, you've got a steep learning curve ahead of you. You need to clearly understand company money and your money and the mechanisms between them and this would be a very obvious answer.

Yes it can. Most of us pay for it personally as we can use points based cards or don't bother with company business cards and then just claim it back in Freeagent. It's not hard once you get used to it but up to you.

Just a note. You aren't an employee of your business. If you were you would be constrained by employment law including having to pay yourself NMW which I assume you don't currently. As a director you are an officer of the company. I bit of pedantry but you need to learn everything you can about your company and you if you are going to understand it enough to not have to ask questions like that.

But standard advice.. Always ask your accountant. They are a paid professional in tax matters, we are a bunch of your fellow contractors who's advice is worth as much as you paid for it.

Also use the search method to look for previously asked questions. In google type <keywords> site:forums.contractoruk.com

[wanstronian]

Crikey, you've got a steep learning curve ahead of you. You need to clearly understand company money and your money and the mechanisms between them and this would be a very obvious answer.

Thank you. I'm pretty new to this. I think I have a reasonable view of my money vs business money, but I'm also finding out that HMRC is a rats' nest of gotchas

Yes it can. Most of us pay for it personally as we can use points based cards or don't bother with company business cards and then just claim it back in Freeagent. It's not hard once you get used to it but up to you.

Just a note. You aren't an employee of your business. If you were you would be constrained by employment law including having to pay yourself NMW which I assume you don't currently. As a director you are an officer of the company. I bit of pedantry but you need to learn everything you can about your company and you if you are going to understand it enough to not have to ask questions like that.

Yes of course - it was a convenience phrase more than anything, but your point is well made!

But standard advice.. Always ask your accountant. They are a paid professional in tax matters, we are a bunch of your fellow contractors who's advice is worth as much as you paid for it.

Also use the search method to look for previously asked questions. In google type site:forums.contractoruk.com

Thank you for your help!

[northernladuk]

Are you using Freeagent? Just enter your expenses in there. Doesn't take long, it's got all the categories does the VAT etc. If you are using an accountant that doesn't offer freeagent I'd strongly suggest you swap to one. It makes life a lot easier.

Just remember your job now is running a business. Doing the IT stuff at a client is the easy bit, even the perms can do it. You have legal duties running a business so make sure you get up to speed with that first.

[Craig@Clarity]

I'm set up as a limited company, working on a project that's outside IR35.

I'm aware that business travel is a legitimate expense and that I, as an employee of my company, can pay for travel then claim it back.

This seems to be a bit inefficient. Far easier to buy business travel tickets directly from my business account. However, I can't find anything online that tells me whether this is allowed. Google just keeps telling me that travel is a claimable expense.

So: can my business buy my travel tickets, or do I need to jump through the additional hoops of buying it on my personal account, submitting an expense claim, then paying myself back from the business account?

Thanks in advance.

Have the company pay for it directly. Same with anything else that's business related e.g. stationery, postage, etc. It'll be easier from an admin point of view too as you won't have to faff around with recording expenses and reimbursing yourself.

[malvolio]

Have the company pay for it directly. Same with anything else that's business related e.g. stationery, postage, etc. It'll be easier from an admin point of view too as you won't have to faff around with recording expenses and reimbursing yourself.

Exactly what I've done for the last 28 years....

[Lance]

"expenses" means more than one thing.

There is an expense that you have paid for personally and the company can reimburse you for.
And there is an expense that is something the company can pay for and it is treated in a specific way. A business expense.
These are not mutually exclusive.

The first needs to fit both criteria. IE. To claim a personal expense from the business, it needs to be a genuine business expense.
The business can buy the first s well as it makes no difference.

To complicate matters, not all business expenses can be paid personally and reclaimed. Pension payments are a legitimate business expense, but you CANNOT pay personally and claim it back from the company. It absolutely has to be paid from the company account.

Confused????
Get an accountant and use him/her.

[vwdan]

I've always done as many expenses as I can directly from the business so as to avoid any P11D issues. I might be an isolated case, but when I racked up lots of expenses as a permie, HMRC started sending me letters about it and pushed me onto Self Assessment.

Makes no different overall, but it was much easier to just not worry about it