expenses gone mad

[Bluebird]

if you use your car for travelling to and from work and it fooks up and needs to go to the dealers, would the cost of a courtesy car be an xpense?

or car hire, taxi, public transport - yes.

don't forget to keep the reciepts - and make sure they are dated for "working day" - car hire over non-working weekends are subject to BIK and taxable.

[ratewhore]

The contractor operating through the umbrella bought the printer and gt a recipt, my point is they did not use the printer for business use as all kit is provided by the job. WhatI am saying is if you need to use the printer to print of expense claims etc and fill in timesheets then can you justifiably claim the expense of buying the printer and paper as a business expense?

I would stop worrying about what others are doing and concentrate on making sure your own house is in order (which it sounds like it is).

Less stress all round...

[Burdock]

I would stop worrying about what others are doing and concentrate on making sure your own house is in order (which it sounds like it is).

Less stress all round...

yeah Damo...

you'll feel a lot better when one of your colleagues gets their butt kicked by Hector...what goes around comes around....

[TheFaQQer]

If you're really that bothered about it, ring HMRC and ask them how they decide whether to investigate people or not, because John Smith working for BigBrolly Co reckons that they'll never catch him for the printer and all the other dodgy expense he's claiming, and you wanted to make sure that you'd get away with it too.

I'm sure that you'll get a response from them...

Or, as ratewhore says, stop worrying about what other people do and look after number one instead. Friends of mine have a much more relaxed policy on what is claimable or not than I do, but that's up to them to defend if they were ever caught.

[floatsy]

Or, as ratewhore says.

Third(ed)

[Damo1176]

I want to go down the Ltd Co route and make the money that way rather than fraudulent expenses but am just as worried about IR35, My contract is good but working practices less so.

I hate the worry and the anonyance but it's a lot of money to chicken out of earning

[Ardesco]

If you are a contractor you can probably justify a printer as you have to use it to print off resume's while between gigs and print off your invoices, etc.

One thing that does make me laugh about all this though.

If you saw little Johnny Scumbag walking down the road every morning, and each day he smashed a car window and stole the contents of said car would you:

1. Be disheartened and jealous because you weren't doing it.
2. Think what a little scumbag, I can't wait for him to get what's coming to him.
3. Report the crime and make sure he got whats coming to him.

Now ask the same question about your colleagues and thier expense claims. Did you give the same answer? If not why not? They are stealing just the same way Johny Scumbag does, or is theft OK as long as you steal from the right people?

[Bluebird]

If everybody paid the right amount of tax...

and nobody claimed more money from the Welfare State than they're entitled to...

do you think the tax you would need to pay would be lower ?


so, these guys who are defrauding the state - who's making up the shortfall ?

[Ardesco]

If everybody paid the right amount of tax...

and nobody claimed more money from the Welfare State than they're entitled to...

do you think the tax you would need to pay would be lower ?

Yes

But note that we would still probably pay more tax than we need to.....

so, these guys who are defrauding the state - who's making up the shortfall ?

Who do you think? Everybody who pays tax. The more that gets scammed away, the more we have to pay to make up the shortfall.

[Bluebird]

Yes

But note that we would still probably pay more tax than we need to.....


Who do you think? Everybody who pays tax. The more that gets scammed away, the more we have to pay to make up the shortfall.

thats the point I was trying to make.

scamming expenses seems like a victimless crime - till you see your tax return...