Claiming Bills in Rented Room without paperwork

[the4thamigo_uk]

Hi I own a house in the North of England and I have been working on contract in London. I have rented a room in a shared house for the duration and I have charged 5/7 of the rent to my company. I also charge my weekly travel expenses between the two properties for which I have all receipts/tickets.

However, I pay additional utility bills and council tax to another resident in the same property, and the bills are all in his name. Can I claim these bills from my company without a receipt or utility bill to show for it? All I have is my personal bank account statement with the transactions to this named person's account.

Secondly, the rental agreement for the room is actually in my personal name. I have read that it should be in the name of the company? Is it still legitimate to claim this expense.

[TykeMerc]

In this situation I just expense it to the business. i.e. I raise a personal expenses claim to the business, enter it on the books as such and reimburse myself.
When it comes to the utility bills I've always had those as part of the rent, but I don't see why your flatmate can't give you a simple receipt much the same as you have for the rent.

[the4thamigo_uk]

Hi Tyke, thanks for the reply. Is your rental agreement in your name or in the name of the company?

[TykeMerc]

Hi Tyke, thanks for the reply. Is your rental agreement in your name or in the name of the company?

Not got one at the moment, but I've always rented in my name and put in personal expenses to the company just like any employee would in any other company.

[Scrag Meister]

When I used to rent a room, when I first moved to London, I got the home owner/landlord to give me a reciept for the rent, stating on the receipt that it included all bills, then put it through the accounts as a normal expense supporting the business.

Would they not be willing to provide you with any form of receipt?

[eek]

Hi I own a house in the North of England and I have been working on contract in London. I have rented a room in a shared house for the duration and I have charged 5/7 of the rent to my company. I also charge my weekly travel expenses between the two properties for which I have all receipts/tickets.

However, I pay additional utility bills and council tax to another resident in the same property, and the bills are all in his name. Can I claim these bills from my company without a receipt or utility bill to show for it? All I have is my personal bank account statement with the transactions to this named person's account.

Secondly, the rental agreement for the room is actually in my personal name. I have read that it should be in the name of the company? Is it still legitimate to claim this expense.

I doubt HMRC will mind what name the agreement is in. For the utility bills just get a copy of the bill, add the calculation (say 100/3 rooms / 7 days * 5) and expense the answer keeping a copy of the bill.

The rules to follow are:-

1) can you justify it (personally I would be invoicing all 7 days rental but as I have a family its an easy argument to win)
2) can you explain it.
3) would your mate think you are pulling a fast one.

I find that if you can answer 1, 2 and especially 3 HMRC are usually happy .

[SueEllen]

Hi I own a house in the North of England and I have been working on contract in London. I have rented a room in a shared house for the duration and I have charged 5/7 of the rent to my company. I also charge my weekly travel expenses between the two properties for which I have all receipts/tickets.

While you have to be careful to not take the piss if the landlord cannot rent the room out or use the room for guests the two days you are at home and you have evidence of this such as the room advert stating this or contract showing the landlord doesn't live in the property, then charge the full monthly amount and don't break it down.

After all you wouldn't need the room at all if you weren't working in London.

[the4thamigo_uk]

then charge the full monthly amount and don't break it down.

One more question, My books show a monthly charge of 5/7 of the rent from Feb 2010 to now. I am preparing my accounts up to the end of Sept 2010. If I wanted to add the extra 2/7 of the rent to all months from Feb2010 to Sept 2010 before submitting my accounts, how best should I do this, bearing in mind that the 5/7 have been already paid into my personal account.

1) Add a credit to myself in my books, dated for today, for the sum total of all previous months 2/7 extra rent. This will therefore not feature in my company accounts
2) Add a credit to myself for 2/7 rent dated the end of each month from Feb 2010, and then pay myself the accumulated sum today.

Either way its going to look odd in the books no? What about backdating my utility bills in the same way?

Thanks hugely for all your comments above by the way. This forum is excellent.

[SueEllen]

One more question, My books show a monthly charge of 5/7 of the rent from Feb 2010 to now. I am preparing my accounts up to the end of Sept 2010. If I wanted to add the extra 2/7 of the rent to all months from Feb2010 to Sept 2010 before submitting my accounts, how best should I do this, bearing in mind that the 5/7 have been already paid into my personal account.

1) Add a credit to myself in my books, dated for today, for the sum total of all previous months 2/7 extra rent. This will therefore not feature in my company accounts
2) Add a credit to myself for 2/7 rent dated the end of each month from Feb 2010, and then pay myself the accumulated sum today.

Either way its going to look odd in the books no? What about backdating my utility bills in the same way?

Have a word with your accountant giving them a clear justification of why you are doing the change. They should tell you how to put the change in the books as everyone here keeps their books slightly differently.