Flight Training = Business Expense?

[sgxluk]

Hi Folks,

Long time contractor & lurker on these forums hopefully asking a question which wont get me shouted at...tooo loudly. In actual fact I see this one was asked back in 2008 but only with a few sarcastic responses.

MyCo has quite a bit of work where actually it would be more economical to fly to the client site daily or however often, than it would be to actually drive there & sit in traffic for hours, or take ages to get there. Some of this stuff is significant - we have clients in the North East which is 5 hours by train, about the same by car, or 2 by light aircraft. Another instance - short journey to a client site takes 4 hours by car, it would be 45 minutes by light aircraft - call it just over an hour all in.

Question is this:- I wish to learn to fly so that I may, when necessary, hire an aircraft to fly to client meetings or to carry out work. Therefore, I wish to investigate whether the company could pay a proportion (50/50 seems fair as I may fly for pleasure later), or indeed all of my flight training expenses. This doesn't seem unreasonable as it is to improve the efficiency of the employee & of the business & it genuinely would be reasonable, necessary & for business purposes.

Sensible answers welcome....& a bit of sarcasm too if you feel like it

[stek]

Sleeper sockie?

[malvolio]

Duality of purpose means no chance - unless you are currently an unqualified commercial pilot of course...


Next time, read the answers.

[ASB]

Good luck with that.

Curiously one of my businesses years ago provided services to real pilots converting to jaa.

They always struggled with getting any of their costs through their respective tax authorities.

Still I can guarantee one thing. Any claim will be 100% successful until challenged. Then it might not be.

[Old Greg]

Hi Folks,

Long time contractor & lurker on these forums hopefully asking a question which wont get me shouted at...tooo loudly. In actual fact I see this one was asked back in 2008 but only with a few sarcastic responses.

MyCo has quite a bit of work where actually it would be more economical to fly to the client site daily or however often, than it would be to actually drive there & sit in traffic for hours, or take ages to get there. Some of this stuff is significant - we have clients in the North East which is 5 hours by train, about the same by car, or 2 by light aircraft. Another instance - short journey to a client site takes 4 hours by car, it would be 45 minutes by light aircraft - call it just over an hour all in.

Question is this:- I wish to learn to fly so that I may, when necessary, hire an aircraft to fly to client meetings or to carry out work. Therefore, I wish to investigate whether the company could pay a proportion (50/50 seems fair as I may fly for pleasure later), or indeed all of my flight training expenses. This doesn't seem unreasonable as it is to improve the efficiency of the employee & of the business & it genuinely would be reasonable, necessary & for business purposes.

Sensible answers welcome....& a bit of sarcasm too if you feel like it

If you couldn't drive, would driving lessons be claimable without BIK?

[stek]

I'm thinking of taking Spaceman lessons, I can get from Leeds to Farnborough by Soyuz via Baikonur before I even took off.

Can I claim for the spacesuit too - no duality there...

Looking at this second hand Vostok, one owner since new in 1961, a Y. Gagarin, only re-entered once, full service history, tax-exempt, 5.1" to the gallon....

[MPwannadecentincome]

daily commute? what's wrong with the hotels?

[Old Greg]

daily commute? what's wrong with the hotels?

Yes, MyCo has a modular hotel on jet packs, which flies around the country to meet my commuting needs.

[DirtyDog]

Question is this:- I wish to learn to fly so that I may, when necessary, hire an aircraft to fly to client meetings or to carry out work. Therefore, I wish to investigate whether the company could pay a proportion (50/50 seems fair as I may fly for pleasure later), or indeed all of my flight training expenses. This doesn't seem unreasonable as it is to improve the efficiency of the employee & of the business & it genuinely would be reasonable, necessary & for business purposes.

A friend of mine considered the same thing a few years back, and the answer is an unequivocal "no".

As much as you think it would improve the efficiency of the employee (which I disagree with anyway), HMRC wouldn't see it that way.

Once you know how to fly, then you can expense the hire cost of the plane, but I really can't see how it works from an economics point of view even.

[Contreras]

A friend of mine considered the same thing a few years back, and the answer is an unequivocal "no".

As much as you think it would improve the efficiency of the employee (which I disagree with anyway), HMRC wouldn't see it that way.

Agreed. The deciding factor is that you'd be receiving a recognised qualification (pilot's licence) of benefit personally and not a professional requirement of your job.

Once you know how to fly, then you can expense the hire cost of the plane, but I really can't see how it works from an economics point of view even.

I once flew with an accountant who said he would occasionally fly to client meetings and expense it through his business, because that was more 'efficient' than say driving cross country. On an accountants day rate perhaps that could be justified but in reality he was just pursuing his passion of a hobby.