christmas party expenses

[ferret]

Can I just go down to Sainsburys and buy £299.99 worth of booze nibbles and have a "xmas party" at home?

At what point does it become taking the p!ss?

This is what I did last year. Two young kids here and not able to go out really as no family here to look after little ones while we go out. We bought a load of stuff the day before Xmas eve to have the party Xmas eve. 2 bottles of wine, one bottle champagne, all together was around £100. I think it would be taking the p*ss if you spent £300 between the two of you and got enough food to last a week.

I initially raised the possibility of buying a hamper with the accountant and he said that the tax man may say that it was for more than the day of the party and that with this scenario the tax man is right unless we proved otherwise, i.e. guilty until proven innocent! So I said I would take photos of us gorging on food and date stamped photo of us throwing any excess away. He laughed and said that it would potentially show as proof...

I expect to do the same this year. As we will only have used a half to a third of the allowance we will probably have another party in the summer.

Ok, I may be a bit thick, but given that my wife is CoSec and administrator does that mean I can have 4 people: me + guest, wife + guest?

Is your wife salaried? Not sure if just being Company Secretary is enough to get her to the party... If not as other poster said you can go as employee and invite her and still have £300 allowance.

[FiveTimes]

quite a bit of conflicting advice here regarding the cost per head.

I've been told that it is £150, and the company sec can't have the same allowance unless they are salaried.

I've queried the "bring a guest/wife" and the possibility of taking the allowance to £300 and the accountant said no.

[Ruprect]

quite a bit of conflicting advice here regarding the cost per head.

I've been told that it is £150, and the company sec can't have the same allowance unless they are salaried.

I've queried the "bring a guest/wife" and the possibility of taking the allowance to £300 and the accountant said no.

Get a new accountant.

www.hmrc.gov.uk

Look it up.

[FiveTimes]

Get a new accountant.

www.hmrc.gov.uk

Look it up.

Just did and found this
and the figure quoted is £75/head

[blacjac]

It get's discussed at length every year.
Here is last years thread.

http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...mas-party.html

[Ruprect]

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM21690.htm

[TheFaQQer]

Guest - you sure? i thought theparty allowance was for directors and secretary only?

No - if you limit it to directors, then it becomes a BIK. EVERY employee must be invited, and they can bring a guest.

As long as the average per head remains under £150, it's OK. If it goes over £150 a head, then the whole lot becomes taxable.

And you can spread it over as many events a year as you want, as long as the total isn't going to average at more than £150 a head.

[Smurficus]

Is your wife salaried? Not sure if just being Company Secretary is enough to get her to the party... If not as other poster said you can go as employee and invite her and still have £300 allowance.

Yes, she has a salary for the admin part. So I guess I could use 2 + 2 guests if I wanted, though £300 would probably cover a good night out in these parts.

Thanks.

[THEPUMA]

No - if you limit it to directors, then it becomes a BIK. EVERY employee must be invited, and they can bring a guest.

As long as the average per head remains under £150, it's OK. If it goes over £150 a head, then the whole lot becomes taxable.

And you can spread it over as many events a year as you want, as long as the total isn't going to average at more than £150 a head.

A neat shimmy if you accidentally go over the £150 per head threshold is for the employee to reimburse the employer the excess over £150 per head which then takes the whole amount out of the benefit-in-kind regime.

Which is nice because it means you don't have to spend all evening recalculating whether or not you can afford another bottle of wine and then realising you forgot to add the 12.5% service charge!

[diesel]

But you dont actually get £150 paid back to your company just tax relief...saving about £30 (better than nought) or have i started the reclaim vs tax relief debate again