Claiming back expenses

[Cheshire Cat]

Law defines what is ethical.

legal

[Damo1176]

Get over yourself...what's with all this holier than thou crap?

It's not about getting over myself.

When I started working for a proper umbrella I was given clear guidelines on what was claimable.

I was told that subsistence was about what you spent and got receipts for and not what the umbrellas set as a maximum daily rate.

I was also told that expenses are ones that are incurred wholly and exclusively for that contract. The contract I and the person I was bitching about does not require such things as scanners, batteries, storage boxes, blank DVDs etc. Therefore what I am stating is that I consider myself as honest as I can be about what I claim and others take the piss. Unfortunately there seems to be no way of preventing many of these people claiming what reaslistically unethical claims.

There are many that do it and I know there are far worse. As a limited company you can claim back more expenses including home equipment etc.

Lisa maybe you can clear up what you regard as fair claimable expenses and where the line's meant to be drawn.

Most days I think about this stuff very little and just get on with it....it just happens when i see someone photocopying receipts for any old crap they've bought that could be perceived on some remote planet as an expense mny blood pressure rises and I get a bee in my bonnet.

I also know of many that justify what they do because they feel they get ripped off by the government, get taxed too high etc.

I am going to now go back to work and try and forget the big wodge of tulipe receipts I saw and block it out.

This board just gives me chance to vent my fury!

over

[TheBigYinJames]

It's not about getting over myself.

This board just gives me chance to vent my fury!

over

Which, once you strip everything else away, was what i was trying (badly) to say. Worrying about it and getting het up just hurts yourself. There's always some chancer getting away with something. But you never see the whole picture, what goes around tends to come aruond, even if yuo dont' personally witness it.

[Damo1176]

I know I know...I thinknthe one that got my goat most was the postage to friends and family aboard. I was told that postage of CVs was not even allowed under an umbrella because it ewas not directly related to the contract you were working on and also training whihcn was not directly required for your current contract.

Anyway, I just wish I was around for one or two to get their commupence, jeez I still work with people who think that max rate subsistence is their right and have convinced some of my collea\gues who felt they could not claim as they had no receipts and only spent a few quid to claim the whole lot.

As someone mentioned before it's about ethics and I like to think that I have quite good ethics but we all have different stances on many things.

Lisa if you could fully qualify a professional umbrellas stance on expenses that'd be handy. There is some stuff I'm sure I should claim that if I've been unsure I don't.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

It is impossible for me to give anyone details of what expenses they can and cannot claim as everyone's circumstances are different. Simply: if you spend money on something which will be wholly and exclusively used for your business or it is completely necessary for you to fulfill the terms of your contract then it will be a legitimate expense. It honestly is no more complicated than that. It is only made complicated when people try to make something an expense when it isn't i.e. when they try to find a business purpose for something that doesn't have one because they would like or think they should have tax relief on the cost.

HTH

[malvolio]

The rules are actually crystal clear. At its simplest, you are allowed to claim as a non-BIK expense anything you spend that is wholly and entirely necessary for the pursuit of your business. That's why your previous umbrella had the "this contract only" rule, they were simply doing the right thing.

If you have your own company, clearly the scope is a bit wider, since kit, consumables and the like are legitimate business expenses - but it still wouldn't cover the postage cost of a letter to Aunty Gladys in Alice Springs.

And just to be really pedantic, you can actually claim whatever expenses you like, as long as you declare them correctly on your SA as benefits-in-kind and so pay tax on them. That's what your co-workers are doing wrong, they are defrauding the taxman by deliberately mis-stating their gross income. Personally I'd drop a note to Hector...

[daviejones]

It's not about getting over myself.

When I started working for a proper umbrella I was given clear guidelines on what was claimable.

I was told that subsistence was about what you spent and got receipts for and not what the umbrellas set as a maximum daily rate.

I was also told that expenses are ones that are incurred wholly and exclusively for that contract. The contract I and the person I was bitching about does not require such things as scanners, batteries, storage boxes, blank DVDs etc. Therefore what I am stating is that I consider myself as honest as I can be about what I claim and others take the piss. Unfortunately there seems to be no way of preventing many of these people claiming what reaslistically unethical claims.

There are many that do it and I know there are far worse. As a limited company you can claim back more expenses including home equipment etc.

Lisa maybe you can clear up what you regard as fair claimable expenses and where the line's meant to be drawn.

Most days I think about this stuff very little and just get on with it....it just happens when i see someone photocopying receipts for any old crap they've bought that could be perceived on some remote planet as an expense mny blood pressure rises and I get a bee in my bonnet.

I also know of many that justify what they do because they feel they get ripped off by the government, get taxed too high etc.

I am going to now go back to work and try and forget the big wodge of tulipe receipts I saw and block it out.

This board just gives me chance to vent my fury!

over

Why do you care what others are doing? Just do your own thing and get on with it.....

[Damo1176]

Why do you care what others are doing? Just do your own thing and get on with it.....

Cos I am hopeless at doing that. I do the same job as these people, get the same rate as these people yet earn thousands less cos I follow the rules. On bad days it's makes me envious and very annoyed that they get away with it. Am I not allowed feel that way and vent mu fury Davie?

[NotAllThere]

I hope that was irony. If not, I fear for you.

Not really. If law (whichever law set you might appeal to) doesn't define ethics, then ethics are entirely a matter of opinion.

[expat]

The rules are actually crystal clear. At its simplest, you are allowed to claim as a non-BIK expense anything you spend that is wholly and entirely necessary for the pursuit of your business. That's why your previous umbrella had the "this contract only" rule, they were simply doing the right thing.

Surely if the Umbrella and you contemplate the possibility of your employment with them continuing beyond the current contract (technically, just one of the umbrella's current contracts) then looking for another contract in which they could use you is indeed a legitimate part of their business?