HMRC audit going badly

[v8gaz]

How about....

Work as permie in the City for 12 months away from your "contracted" permie base so claim travel expenses, then jump ship and go contracting for a completely different end client but again in the city.

Does the "clock" start afresh when you transition from permie to contractor thus giving you potentially 24 months of expenses goodness or would the previous 12 months in permie land count ?

Nope, it all counts, whatever the vehicle.

[Jog On]

Just WTF are they going to come up with next?...

So if I live in zone 6 London and commute into zone 1 for different gigs based in say:

City - 12 months
Canary Wharf - 18 months
West End - 12 months
Canary Wharf - 6 months

This means I'm caught as my Oyster card expense is always going to be a 1-6 travelcard regardless of my destination in zone 1?

[Bumfluff]

Just WTF are they going to come up with next?...

I think the next thing is going to a tax on the air that we breath, obviously contractors will have to pay a higher rate of tax that as thats only fair as in the HMRC eyes we are all tax dodging scum I am truely fed up with HMRC there is a quote in a contractoruk article from an ex-HMRC official which pretty much says it all.

“Once they’ve got their hooks into you, there’s no way the Revenue officer is going to say ‘Oh according to the guidance this is a low-risk case, so I won’t bother.’

“Basically for the Revenue and its staff, it’s all about yield - what taxes can they throw at a business and which ones will stick. I’m almost ashamed to say it but I’ve done that myself so I know [it happens].”

[Jog On]

Well they have to make back that £900M tax avoidance crackdown somehow don't they. And pay Philip Green to help the govt more efficient.....

The only thing for it is to become an 'untouchable' like the non doms/barclays/tescos/ex HMRC chairmen (Broadbent) etc.

Spineless pathetic HMRC - I wonder how much it will cost them to go through all these audits and how much yield they'll see from them... maybe as much as they saw from IR35 over the last 10 years

Feckin eejuts!

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Just WTF are they going to come up with next?...

So if I live in zone 6 London and commute into zone 1 for different gigs based in say:

City - 12 months
Canary Wharf - 18 months
West End - 12 months
Canary Wharf - 6 months

This means I'm caught as my Oyster card expense is always going to be a 1-6 travelcard regardless of my destination in zone 1?

Unfortunately you would be caught Jogon just by the 2 canary wharf contracts which on the face of it are 24 months and the 12 months in between would not be enough to take the attendance at canary wharf under 40% - even if the canary wharf gigs were 23 months 29 days I think you would be hard pressed to argue that there was a significant difference to your daily commute - sorry

[Sockpuppet]

Luckily my contract has me at 5 different places a week so fairly easy to get outside of the 24 month rule

[Jog On]

Unfortunately you would be caught Jogon just by the 2 canary wharf contracts which on the face of it are 24 months and the 12 months in between would not be enough to take the attendance at canary wharf under 40% - even if the canary wharf gigs were 23 months 29 days I think you would be hard pressed to argue that there was a significant difference to your daily commute - sorry

Luckily this is a hypothetical but very probably situation. I'm on Month 11 of about 14 in Canary atm...

So if I did another 12 monther in the city would I be caught?

[northernladuk]

Luckily this is a hypothetical but very probably situation. I'm on Month 11 of about 14 in Canary atm...

So if I did another 12 monther in the city would I be caught?

You seem to have some very strong opinions on something you don't seem to understand.

14+12 = 26... It's a 24 month rule... that help?

Also uou also have to stop claiming as soon as you know you will be going over the 24 months.

If you have done 14 months and they offer anything over 10 months you cannot claim a bean in the 10+ month contract.

The huge grey area is where in London and if they think that is the same geographical area.

[JamJarST]

Luckily my contract has me at 5 different places a week so fairly easy to get outside of the 24 month rule

Actually isn't that worse? If you do 23 months where you have to go to 5 different locations each day, thiose 5 locales are then ruled out for the future.

[northernladuk]

Just WTF are they going to come up with next?...

So if I live in zone 6 London and commute into zone 1 for different gigs based in say:

City - 12 months
Canary Wharf - 18 months
West End - 12 months
Canary Wharf - 6 months

This means I'm caught as my Oyster card expense is always going to be a 1-6 travelcard regardless of my destination in zone 1?

Also OP's original post clearly says...

I received a letter, the gist of which was that even though they agreed all my contracts had been independent, as all the locations had been within “The City of London”, and no significant change had been made to my travel, then the geographical location of “The City of London” was deemed my “permanent” place of work, all my expenses were discounted, and I owed them a further 3 grand.

The point that stands out to me is the term 'geographical location' which would indicate although the City is defined as the square mile they would use this to argue the Greater London area.