Umbrella - Parasol - Travelling Costs?

[mobad]

Hi guys,

I've just started my new job and as it is with Parasol for the Umbrella company, I am claiming through them my travel and food costs.

For the month I had to buy a underground monthly at £57 and an overground rail monthly at £187.
So in total around £144 excluding eating costs and length of hours a day.

Today I have met a collegue who is driving to work from near my area.
Should I get a refund on my monthlys and travel with him, or/but then how will I be able to claim travel allowance?

Also can I claim back through tax any other costs?

Cheers!

[malvolio]

Hi guys,

I've just started my new job and as it is with Parasol for the Umbrella company, I am claiming through them my travel and food costs.

For the month I had to buy a underground monthly at £57 and an overground rail monthly at £187.
So in total around £144 excluding eating costs and length of hours a day.

Today I have met a collegue who is driving to work from near my area.
Should I get a refund on my monthlys and travel with him, or/but then how will I be able to claim travel allowance?

Also can I claim back through tax any other costs?

Cheers!

Why do you think tax evasion is a good idea? Most around here and in the legal system think it is actually a rather anti-social criminal offence.

If you don't pay expenses, you can't claim them back. If you are riding on someone else's money, why should the taxpayer reimburse you? Since you have to eat anyway and are not staying away from home, why should the taxpayer fund your food bills? On what basis do you think you could reclaim tax on expenditure you haven't made?

You're not even running a business, since you're employed by Parasol, so there is even less justification for tax relief. Go learn the rules properly and try again, before someone in authority notices.

[ASB]

Should I get a refund on my monthlys and travel with him, or/but then how will I be able to claim travel allowance?

Oddly enough you won't (or at least shouldn't). The concept of expenses is that they are neutral to you. They are reimbursement of costs (drum rolll for the keyword ) incurred.

If you come to an arrangement with the other person you will be saving a couple of hundred quid a month. This can only improve things. The actual costs you incur are chargeable (assuming those you are currently claiming are genuinely allowable). The other person can also claim for the passenger allowance - which is 10p a mile if I recall correctly.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

It is a really common misconception that claiming expenses will make you financially better off. Any expense should be the result of you having incurred a cost as ASB says - this means that although you will get tax relief - you have still spent the money. In this situation Mobad, a lift with your friend will cost you nothing thereby saving you £144 each month.

[HYpno27]

Parasol are actually one of more efficient of the umbrellas out there - I declare an interest, I use them after years of being ltd and then being shafted by prosperity 4.

You really don't want to go down the road of claiming for non-existent expenses, that way lies madness, or at least a great big fine

[TheFaQQer]

But what about having a dispensation?

Sorry - couldn't resist!

[mobad]

But what about having a dispensation?

Sorry - couldn't resist!

Guys he is a not a friend but a collegue. As he lives near by he has offered to drop me off as Long as I pay half.
My original point was so that I can claim as well as technically ill be paying half. So how does this work out?

Cheers!

[Bluebird]

Guys he is a not a friend but a collegue. As he lives near by he has offered to drop me off as Long as I pay half.
My original point was so that I can claim as well as technically ill be paying half. So how does this work out?

Cheers!

I would guess you can claim proving you get a reciept of him for money you pay him, also your "collegue" will need to declare the income to HMRC on his annual self-assessment.

Personally I think you'd be better off claiming 40p per mile and not mentioning the fact tha you haven't got a car - although this is technically fraud...

[malvolio]

Guys he is a not a friend but a collegue. As he lives near by he has offered to drop me off as Long as I pay half.
My original point was so that I can claim as well as technically ill be paying half. So how does this work out?

Cheers!

That's the thing, isn't it. If you were two blokes sharing a car for convenience, you would drop him half the petrol cost and nobody would care less. However, as soon as you treat it as a business expense, you create an audit trail that means everyone has to keep records and account for money spent, and your colleague is no longer doing you a favour and saving himself some petrol money, but potentially commiting tax evasion by pocketing tracebale but undeclared income.

So I go back to my original point - why claim expenses for business costs you aren't really incurring? Are you really going to save anything?

[Rialto99]

It is a really common misconception that claiming expenses will make you financially better off. Any expense should be the result of you having incurred a cost as ASB says - this means that although you will get tax relief - you have still spent the money. In this situation Mobad, a lift with your friend will cost you nothing thereby saving you £144 each month.

Hi Lisa, I agree. Although what's your take on the whole Temporary / Permanent workplace whilst working through an Umbrella Company? If this guy has signed an 'overarching' employment contract with Parasol, I presume that his Temporary workplace for the purpose of this first assignment is the client's main place of work (i.e. the place he travels to day in, day out).
Questions:-

1. Where in this case is his Permanent workplace? Is it his home or the Parasol head office?
2. If he only performs this one assignment under his 'employment' with Parasol (and then starts a full time job with someone else), should he pay back the tax he has saved by claiming travelling expenses for this one assignment?

It would be good to know what ContractorUmbrella's stance on this is.

Cheers
R