Lunch expenses

[pr1]

It's not piss taking if you are away from your company's offices and cannot make breakfast or lunch due to staying away over night.

Agreed but how many people are claiming lunch every day for their disguised commute? From some of the answers above it seems like a fair few

[SueEllen]

What is a "disguised commute"?

If your main place of business is your company's offices and you do work there, then you are entitled to claim when not there.

[pr1]

:-) hence them tightening up

[PerfectStorm]

What is a "disguised commute"?

If your main place of business is your company's offices and you do work there, then you are entitled to claim when not there.

And we use the 24 month rule to determine when somewhere becomes a main place of work... so claim away

[MrWebDev]

And we use the 24 month rule to determine when somewhere becomes a main place of work... so claim away

This

Having spoken to accountants, read threads and articles on here, whilst bearing the above in mind, I'm pretty sure many of us have come to the conclusion that whether working 5mins away from the office (in some cases our homes) or 5hrs across the country you are able to claim T&S. AFTER 24 months travelling to the same client site as mentioned above this privilege is revoked.

I do believe there was a case recently regarding a Dr. He was investigated; he generally claimed mileage going to and from his surgery, but got wrapped because on occasion he took a detour and went somewhere else on the way to his home and he had claimed for the full journey.

[pr1]

I'm not saying you can't/shouldn't do it, but I completely understand why they're trying to change it if people are claiming for disguised commutes - unfortunately they're going about it in a typical overreacted way (imo they should just reduce the 24month rule to 6 or 12 months)

[MrWebDev]

I'm not saying you can't/shouldn't do it, but I completely understand why they're trying to change it if people are claiming for disguised commutes - unfortunately they're going about it in a typical overreacted way (imo they should just reduce the 24month rule to 6 or 12 months)

Would it be possible to describe what you believe a disguised commute is?

I certainly don't think they should reduce the time, it's enough as it is. 6 months isn't a long length for many projects so a great number of people would be caught within this.

I personally think that everyone should be made to go through some sort of company such as a limited, or they should use the law to come down more strongly on the people that are abusing the system. Generally the dodgy companies that use it as a way of getting around giving workers at the lower ends of the pay scale rights, and a decent days pay.

[pr1]

Would it be possible to describe what you believe a disguised commute is?

I certainly don't think they should reduce the time, it's enough as it is. 6 months isn't a long length for many projects so a great number of people would be caught within this.

I personally think that everyone should be made to go through some sort of company such as a limited, or they should use the law to come down more strongly on the people that are abusing the system. Generally the dodgy companies that use it as a way of getting around giving workers at the lower ends of the pay scale rights, and a decent days pay.

My definition would be: working 4 or more days a week at the same place ('client office') closer than 25 miles from home ('permanent workplace')

If your contract is longer than 6 months then negotiate your rate accordingly or take the tax hit, or go sit on the bench for a month until you find a contract somewhere else to reset your 6month clock

It'd catch 90% of contractors doing disguised commutes and leave the people who travel a long way/get hotels able to take the contracts down south etc

[SueEllen]

My definition would be: working 4 or more days a week at the same place ('client office') closer than 25 miles from home ('permanent workplace')

If your contract is longer than 6 months then negotiate your rate accordingly or take the tax hit, or go sit on the bench for a month until you find a contract somewhere else to reset your 6month clock

It'd catch 90% of contractors doing disguised commutes and leave the people who travel a long way/get hotels able to take the contracts down south etc

When I was permie I worked for consultancies and often my house of residence was nearer the client site than the office. I was allowed to claim reasonable T&S to the client site including ALL my travel expenses even though they were less than me travelling to the main office.

My first few contracts had me traveling 35 miles and then 17 miles. 35 miles could take me 50 minutes to 1hr 10 and 17 miles would take me 1 hr 15 to 1 hr 45 mins.

Point I'm making arbitrary rules on mileage like yours don't work.

What works is what we have now. The 24 month rule from HMRC and the 90 minute rule DWP places on job seekers.

[pr1]

When I was permie I worked for consultancies and often my house of residence was nearer the client site than the office. I was allowed to claim reasonable T&S to the client site including ALL my travel expenses even though they were less than me travelling to the main office.

My first few contracts had me traveling 35 miles and then 17 miles. 35 miles could take me 50 minutes to 1hr 10 and 17 miles would take me 1 hr 15 to 1 hr 45 mins.

Point I'm making arbitrary rules on mileage like yours don't work.

What works is what we have now. The 24 month rule from HMRC and the 90 minute rule DWP places on job seekers.

If it works why are they changing it as of next April?