Claiming accomodation

[deckster]

Don't forget 'wholly, necessarily and exclusively'. Are you maintaining a residence in the UK? Are you staying over at weekends? Do you have friends over for a jolly? Do you let other people stay there when you're not around?

Any of the above could be used to HMRC to claim that it wasn't a wholly business expense. You'd almost certainly be OK anyway (I did all of the above when working long-term in Amsterdam 10 years back ) but it pays to be aware of the minutae.

[Olly]

thanks for reply.

bugger - could have been a nice little earner that one....
what are your thoughts on the 73 euro a day instead of £10?

[ASB]

I've just spoken to my accountants and they inform me these are not allowed unless special dispensation is agreed with HMRC

ASB - do you have any further advice on this one? are the accountants missing something and it is indeed permissible? Any ideas how / who I'd go about asking at HMRC. Would I really need to tell them the true nature of my accommodation arrangements here?

The 73 Euro a day + breakfast (although I don't eat breakfast!) is still better than the measly £10 I'm claiming now.

Thanks

I wouldn't like to disagree with your accountant, he knows your situation better than I (I hope). However I think he might be confused. Certainly within the UK you cannot choose to use scale rates. You need to agree them and it only generally applies to large companies with a number of employees travelling (sampling is required). However with overseas claims I would point you back to the links I posted. In particular:-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM05250.htm

Subsistence expenses are a common example of expenses which employers choose to reimburse by means of a scale rate payment (see EIM05200). EIM05210 contains guidance about the evidence HMRC may require in support of a dispensation request for scale rate subsistence payments to employees travelling within the UK. The sampling technique described in that guidance is not usually appropriate for employees who travel outside the UK, because most employers will not have enough internationally mobile employees to enable them to undertake a meaningful sampling exercise.

HMRC has therefore agreed that employers may use the benchmark rates published by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office when paying accommodation and subsistence expenses to employees whose duties require them to travel abroad, without the need for the employees to produce expenses receipts. The rates can be found in the HMRC internet library, Employment Income scale rates. Accommodation and subsistence payments at or below the published rates will not be liable for income tax or National Insurance Contributions for employees who travel abroad
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The first bold bit relates to the position within the UK - i.e. it is as Lisa said. The second bit relates to overseas. Note it does not mention a dispensation being required. [Their opinion is related to the sampling required being impractical, thus representative sampling of all employers is adequeate, hence the FCO rates benchmark]. In any event a dispensation makes not difference to the eventual treatment, but that's a different issue.

Somewhere within the HMRC guidance - but I cannot find it - there was some guidance that said ANY employer could use the scale rates without a dispensation to do so.

In your position I would be inclined to ask HMIT for an opinion, quoting the guidance as published to see if you can use the scale rates and which parts are claimable.

Decksters point is also valid. HMIT can be more generous than expected when it coumes to overseas expenses - provided your are still tax resident in the UK. Of course it is also entirely possible to be tax resident in more than one place at any given point.