Hotel and Travel Expenses

[BoredBloke]

I worked with a bloke who really used to take the pi55 with stuff like this and he never got found out....as far as I know!

He used to book himself on a training course in say Florida and ask them for the purchase order for his companies expenses. Then he would book his flights and hotel for the duration and cancel the course - OK he may lose a small deposit of be asked to pay a cancellation fee, but it was nothing compared to the cost of the flight and hotel that his company shelled out for.

Persoanlly I wouldn't even try this because I know I'd be found out straight away and I don't fancy a few years being bummed in the showers in prison!

[Platypus]

Persoanlly I wouldn't even try this because I know I'd be found out straight away and I don't fancy a few years being bummed in the showers in prison!

. removed .

[BoredBloke]

It's much more likely that you could get away with 'ooops accounting error' and pay the tax plus a penalty. So on balance it's probably worth the risk.

Pretty difficult to be an accounting error when he still charged back the cost of the flights, hotel, meals and spending money back to his company based on a cancelled training course.

[BA to the Stars]

It's much more likely that you could get away with 'ooops accounting error' and pay the tax plus a penalty. So on balance it's probably worth the risk.

If you could get away with accounting error then I am sure that a few MP's now serving porridge would have used this (unless it was to make an example of them)

[Boo]

...are you joking? I have an interview in Scotland and its going to cost about 2-300quid! Would really like to claim it but would I really need to go to those lengths to prove it?

If you have a letter or email form the agency then that should suffice.

Boo

[Platypus]

Pretty difficult to be an accounting error when he still charged back the cost of the flights, hotel, meals and spending money back to his company based on a cancelled training course.

If you could get away with accounting error then I am sure that a few MP's now serving porridge would have used this (unless it was to make an example of them)

Good points. I retract my suggestion that this would be easy to get out of.

[SueEllen]

Good points. I retract my suggestion that this would be easy to get out of.

Problem is if you did it once then it's unlikely you would be caught.

However all these people are greedy and thought that cos they got away with it once or for a few months they can do it for ever and not get caught.

[gingerjedi]

Ahh, a comedian!!

Good call on the emails...how about if you went cold calling/visiting for prospective business..and had no evidence...as I might do in the future ..honest..

You can claim whatever you like as long as you are prepared to deal with the consequences, there's little point in asking for approval here as HMRC don't care for our opinions on what's allowable.

Obviously the more you stick your head out the more likely it is you're going to get shot, you can fabricate evidence but how big a grave do you want to dig?

Some things are worth risking like avoiding a parking fee, others carry a much greater risk for little reward.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

If you try to claim expenses for costs that you have not incurred and/or are not purely for business purposes you are knowingly defrauding HMR&C which means that, should you get caught, they will be unlikely to offer much sympathy

[pookgai]

Thanks for the advice guys - all good info to absorb.

Here's another related question - I find my employees and other directors in my company are losing morale and focus, so am thinking about holding a number of business meetings to get to the bottom of it.

I am planning to hold these sessions in restaurants, and perhaps some long weekends inland...if i put in expense claims to conduct these morale boosting/employee fact finding business meetings, how do I prove to HMRC that they aren't bogus, and remove suspicion that they might think its..oh, i don't know...just me going to a restaurant/holiday with my wife.