Laptop for the company

[dx4100]

Hi All

Just bought new laptop for my business using my own credit card. I am planning on claiming it back through my company once my next invoice is paid. Im using Nixon Williams as accountants and I just noticed in their guide it says such things should be paid through my company accountants to avoid "potential" problems. I have just moved from a caught IR35 contract to a non caught IR35 contract so any money in my accounts is off to the tax man until my next invoice is paid so paying through the books wasnt going to happen.

Im just wondering what these potential problems could be ? Is it just a case of the tax man possibly claiming it wasnt a real business expense ? The reality of the situation is the laptop will be for nothing but business

Will be phoning them in the morning, just wondering if anyone can shed some light tonight ?

[SueEllen]

One thing I found when I brought my laptop and other services is that if you buy them as a business, your warranty and the after care you receive is different.

If you buy it personally then use the item for business use then you find that you are not protected by consumer legislation as it's for business use, and you don't have the additional business protection.

[dx4100]

One thing I found when I brought my laptop and other services is that if you buy them as a business, your warranty and the after care you receive is different.

If you buy it personally then use the item for business use then you find that you are not protected by consumer legislation as it's for business use, and you don't have the additional business protection.

Cheers for your reply...

Alot of that comes down to how honest I am with the warranty people regarding the use of the laptop lol. Good points though.....

[ratewhore]

Sounds like a load of old toss to me. You can sell whatever you want from you to the Ltd and from the Ltd to you. The only time it would be an issue would be where you are gaining personally from the transaction (i.e. selling for more than market rate to the Ltd).

Your accountant is probably right in that it is better to use the company credit/debit cards but it's not the end of the world that you didn't and you shouldn't concern yourself...

[Platypus]

Weren't there some threads a while back indicating that if you buy personally then the VAT won't be reclaimable. Personally I think this is tosh (I've never had a problem doing this) but perhaps that's what the accountant is alluding to.

"Potential Problems" isn't a very useful comment though is it !

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

If you bought it personally, you claim it back on yuor expenses. No potential problem that I can see. i have never had any issues with such a transaction.

You can see there could be an issue with the VAT reclaim but again, its never been a problem for me in practice and I've been involved in a few VAT enquiries in my time. Presumably the OP will be on FRS for VAT anyway and the laptop is unlikely to cost >£2k.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

Also, most vendors (PC World, Dell, dabs.com) will raise the invoice to your company regardless of the payment method.

[VectraMan]

Also, most vendors (PC World, Dell, dabs.com) will raise the invoice to your company regardless of the payment method.

I've bought a couple of Dells and done just that: paid with my personal credit card but filled in the company name so that it appears on the invoice. It is a company purchase for all intents and purposes, I've just temporarily loaned the company the money.

Even if you buy something direct from your company account it's no guarantee that you won't use it for personal stuff, so I don't think it makes any odds how you do it.

[Spacecadet]

Even if you buy something direct from your company account it's no guarantee that you won't use it for personal stuff, so I don't think it makes any odds how you do it.

From an accounting and tax point of view, it's a lot simpler if business items are paid for straight from the company account.

[THEPUMA]

The issue is that if you incur the expense as an employee and make an expense claim to your company, then it will be a taxable benefit-in-kind unless it is incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily for the purposes of the trade, which is a very difficult test to pass and in the case of a laptop it probably wouldn't pass.

Whereas if the company purchases the laptop directly or the employee purchases the laptop on behalf of the company (ie in practise the invoice is in the company name), you should be OK.

PUMA