Travelling for Interview - Business Expense?

[northernladuk]

Is it possibly confusion over terminology? Ie I imagine if you'd called it a meeting with a potential client they'd likely be fine with it. The usage of the word "interview" would make me think "job"/"employed", so possibly they were assuming that?

Even so that's still a very poor mistake for his accountant to make. Shows a misunderstanding of what he does and a certain amount of laziness by not attempting to clarify.

[Maslins]

Even so that's still a very poor mistake for his accountant to make. Shows a misunderstanding of what he does and a certain amount of laziness by not attempting to clarify.

Sure...I guess I just wonder as it seems WTFH does from their post shortly after mine whether maybe we're not getting the whole story. Some posters can be quick to jump to the "accountant is useless" conclusion. They may be correct, but equally at this stage there's plenty of other possible reasons.

[mav2005]

Is it possibly confusion over terminology? Ie I imagine if you'd called it a meeting with a potential client they'd likely be fine with it. The usage of the word "interview" would make me think "job"/"employed", so possibly they were assuming that?

Correct, the account manager thought the interview was for a permanent job, which is not an expense you can claim. He has now clarified ''Agreed, travel expense of interviews for contract employment whether full time or part time on behalf of your Ltd will be eligible to claim as expense'' which makes more sense.

He could have been clearer from the beginning and ask the question, is the interview for a perm or contract role, rather than jump into conclusions. I could have been clearer too and specify it is an interview for contract roles, I assumed it would be obvious, considering I am a contractor, but I guess it wasn't.

So it seems clear now, even if I see other 'experts' saying such expenses cannot be claimed, some others say they can.

Example of 'expert' saying they can be claimed: Contractors' Questions: Can I claim interview expenses?

Example of another 'expert' saying you can't claim: Contractors’ Questions: Can I claim travel expenses? CUK02 (read at the end)


a lot of 'experts' with opposite views on the same subject

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Yes they do, providing it is a justified business expense. Going from home to your registered workplace... no expenses paid.. but going from home (or registered office) to a client side would be deemed a business expense, unless the salary reflects the total cost of what the employee will use in expenses.

An employer does not have to reimburse an employee's expenses....ever. It's a matter of company policy. It's a completely separate issue to whether or not an employee can claim tax relief.

It's well within an umbrella's right to have an expenses policy that means they only pay out expenses while in contract. If you aren't happy with this then you should consider running your own Ltd and setting your own expenses policy.

[Lance]

Sure...I guess I just wonder as it seems WTFH does from their post shortly after mine whether maybe we're not getting the whole story. Some posters can be quick to jump to the "accountant is useless" conclusion. They may be correct, but equally at this stage there's plenty of other possible reasons.

I agree with you on this. I did suggest accountant as an idiot as the alternative was that the poster was the idiot. The outcome is the same though.

It turns out that the poster asked someone who isn't an accountant. Seems odd to me. If I ring my accountants the only thing I want non-accountants to do is put me through or take a message.

[Lance]

Correct, the account manager thought the interview was for a permanent job, which is not an expense you can claim. He has now clarified ''Agreed, travel expense of interviews for contract employment whether full time or part time on behalf of your Ltd will be eligible to claim as expense'' which makes more sense.

He could have been clearer from the beginning and ask the question, is the interview for a perm or contract role, rather than jump into conclusions. I could have been clearer too and specify it is an interview for contract roles, I assumed it would be obvious, considering I am a contractor, but I guess it wasn't.

So it seems clear now, even if I see other 'experts' saying such expenses cannot be claimed, some others say they can.

Example of 'expert' saying they can be claimed: Contractors' Questions: Can I claim interview expenses?

Example of another 'expert' saying you can't claim: Contractors’ Questions: Can I claim travel expenses? CUK02 (read at the end)


a lot of 'experts' with opposite views on the same subject

The experts don't disagree. Your interpretation is at fault.
First link says for a LTD it's an expense, for employment it's not so clear and probably not.
The second link is for self-employed (ie. not a LTD.)