Accommodation expenses in your 'home' city?

[eek]

If I had a rental contract in Greece for example, then London would be considered additional and claimable? I'd still need to have my company and bank accounts registered at the London address I use though, as you can't not have an address in the UK in order to operate. I'd end up spending about 9-10 months in London I'd guess, but issues of residency would arise somehow I guess if I claim to 'live' in Greece….

My life is very simple, except on paper! ;-)

You can claim if its wholly related to work. I.e. you work monday to friday and only use the flat Monday - Thursday nights. If you live in the flat for the entire period of the contract (including weekends) then its your permanent residence for that period of time....

[Dallas]

My life is very desperate, I am trying to find every loophole possible to fudge paying tax! ;-)

FIFY

[DirtyDog]

There's nothing to stop you staying in a hotel and claiming the cost.

You just need to declare the benefit on your P11D and pay the tax on it.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

If I had a rental contract in Greece for example, then London would be considered additional and claimable? I'd still need to have my company and bank accounts registered at the London address I use though, as you can't not have an address in the UK in order to operate. I'd end up spending about 9-10 months in London I'd guess, but issues of residency would arise somehow I guess if I claim to 'live' in Greece….

My life is very simple, except on paper! ;-)

You need to have a permanent residence in order to claim tax relief on the cost of additional accommodation

[infosec]

You need to have a permanent residence in order to claim tax relief on the cost of additional accommodation

Thanks. Do you need to be paying anything for it to be considered a permanent residence? Mortgage or rental agreement? Or is it just enough that all of your life (bank, car, credit cards etc) are registered there, but not any utility bills?

[northernladuk]

Thanks. Do you need to be paying anything for it to be considered a permanent residence? Mortgage or rental agreement? Or is it just enough that all of your life (bank, car, credit cards etc) are registered there, but not any utility bills?

Well they closed to the loop on claiming you are living in BTL properties when you come to sell it to avoid CGT. In the days of old you could just provide some bills as evidence but now it is much more stringent and you get picked on you will have to prove beyond doubt you lived there. I think it will be pretty easy for them to ascertain if you live there or are just forwarding post.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Thanks. Do you need to be paying anything for it to be considered a permanent residence? Mortgage or rental agreement? Or is it just enough that all of your life (bank, car, credit cards etc) are registered there, but not any utility bills?

If HMRC were to investigate whether or not the tax relief you had claimed was legitimate you would be asked to prove that an address was your permanent place of residence - I would be surprised if they would accept that was the case if you could not produce utility bills, council tax bills etc.