Can the company pay moving expenses?

[joarvat]

I have a UK limited company, but have now decided to relocate abroad and also set up a company in my new country. I am sole director. Is it reasonable that the company could pay all or part of my moving expenses?

[TykeMerc]

I have a UK limited company, but have now decided to relocate abroad and also set up a company in my new country. I am sole director. Is it reasonable that the company could pay all or part of my moving expenses?

Unless the expenses are a benefit to the company trading I'd say no.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I have a UK limited company, but have now decided to relocate abroad and also set up a company in my new country. I am sole director. Is it reasonable that the company could pay all or part of my moving expenses?

If you need to relocate due specifically for business reasons then there are certain things that can be expensed up to £8000. However my interpretation of HMRC's rules that simply moving because you feel like it (even if you're going to continue doing your job somewhere else) is that any claims would be liable to tax and NICs.

Here's the full details:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/ebi...relocation.htm

You'll see there are a very specific set of conditions that need to be met for expenses to be tax/NIC exempt.