Renting temporary Accommodation.

[DanJudge]

Thanks!

Thanks for all your responses. It seems like I'm not being too unreasonable then. I'll try and seek clarification on food/toiletries/etc, but as long as my travel and accommodation costs are ok to deduct as expenses, that's cool!

Oh, and I should clarify, I won't charge any expenses to the client. My rate is to cover all of my own expenses.

Thanks again for your help and keep it coming!

[Ticktock]

I think you're right - there is an explicit piece that says that you can't claim the cost of making a sandwich, but you could claim a shop-bought sandwich.

That said, I think you'd be very unlucky to get hit by HMRC for something as trivial as that.

Something in the back of my mind agrees with that, but only if you're talking about your lunch when traveling to a temporary place of work each day from home, rather than when you're on overnight stays, when different rules kick in.

Of course, I could be talking crap too.

I'll try and seek clarification on food/toiletries/etc,

Toiletries are definitely not allowable.

[Smartie]

Flexibility

It would be worth discussing flexibility on hours with your client. You should plan on spending five hours or more driving back up to Yorkshire on Friday evenings which means you could be getting there after 11pm. A3/M25/M1 will be very busy.

As you're down here during the week anyway, you'd be better off working longer hours during the week then leaving on Friday lunchtime at the latest to make it home at 4 or 5 pm to see the family. Possibly also arriving Monday morning a bit later otherwise you'll be leaving at 5 am.

As long as you get the work done they should be flexible and you can work an hour or two extra Monday to Thursday.

This would also help with IR35 since your current arrangement means you'll be working set hours as directed by the client.

As for expenses, they need to be wholly for the use of the business, however a decent laptop could also be used for entertainment when no-one was looking ;-)

[stek]

It would be worth discussing flexibility on hours with your client. You should plan on spending five hours or more driving back up to Yorkshire on Friday evenings which means you could be getting there after 11pm. A3/M25/M1 will be very busy.

As you're down here during the week anyway, you'd be better off working longer hours during the week then leaving on Friday lunchtime at the latest to make it home at 4 or 5 pm to see the family. Possibly also arriving Monday morning a bit later otherwise you'll be leaving at 5 am.

As long as you get the work done they should be flexible and you can work an hour or two extra Monday to Thursday.

This would also help with IR35 since your current arrangement means you'll be working set hours as directed by the client.

As for expenses, they need to be wholly for the use of the business, however a decent laptop could also be used for entertainment when no-one was looking ;-)

M40 over M1 anytime - M40 is usually deserted by M-way standards, ok there's the M42 which can can busy, but the M1 M25 to A42 is worse.

Other than that I agree - I leave 12:30 - 14:30 via M3 and I get it somewhere - usually M1 Notts/Mansfield, it is true it's 6 hrs mostly. Get used to it.

[Wanderer]

Imeals out when I was lazy and groceries to cook at the flat when I wasn't.

I thought there was something in the rules specifically about not being able to claim groceries to make your own meals.

I think Bunk is right. My understanding is that you can buy something from the supermarket at meal time and eat it for your meal (hand to mouth) but you can't buy a load of groceries and take them back to your accommodation to make your breakfast/lunch/dinner.

[Antman]

I'd agree with it all so far (also my tuppence, you can't claim groceries but you can claim meals in a restaurant IIRC)

I actually drive down Sunday night to my rented accommodation arriving about 1am, it could be later even. A long journey in the morning leaves me exhausted for the rest of the day, plus I don't sleep well the Sunday if I stay home (worrying about getting enough sleep before the early alarm ironically enough).

[Sausage Surprise]

If I buy groceries it's to save MyCo buying expensive takeaways. MyCo allows this...

[GazCol]

Hello. I have been a sole director of a limited company for the last year, and have been generally taking on contracts that last about 2-4 weeks. So there was never any issues with IR35, and accommodation and travel rules seemed pretty simple. My latest contract however, is for 12 months in Guildford (I live in Sheffield) and will require me to rent a place down in Guildford and I'd drive down there every Sunday night and drive back up every Friday evening.

I have done a fair bit of research, but I'm still relatively new to this, so want to make sure I have it right. It seems to me that I'll be able to claim my petrol costs at 45p (for 10k miles and then 25p after that) as expenses..... as well as the cost of rent for the room, right?

Additional details that may be pertinent: -

• Contract is for 12 months.
• My house in Sheffield is rented and my Wife and Son will live there. It is a 3 bed detached and the rooms I am looking for in Guildford are double rooms in house shares at approx £500 pcm. Rooms are advertised as Bills included.
• My family won't visit the house down south. It won't be family friendly and I doubt I'll even spend 1 weekend down there. It will be pretty basic.
• My job will require me to be on site between 10-6 Mon-Fri

Any advice as to what else I can claim as expenses would be really appreciated, such as my meals, etc.... or perhaps the purchase of a TV for entertainment? Is that too much?

I'd really appreciate any help from you guys.

Thank, Dan.

For the sake of your own sanity, and considering it's easy to do from Sheffield to Guildford - get the train!

[DirtyDog]

This would also help with IR35 since your current arrangement means you'll be working set hours as directed by the client.

If everyone is working those hours, or the contract can only exist for those hours, then it's not an IR35 pointer.

As for expenses, they need to be wholly for the use of the business, however a decent laptop could also be used for entertainment when no-one was looking ;-)

Laptops have a specific exemption for some degree of personal use.

[Damon]

For the sake of your own sanity, and considering it's easy to do from Sheffield to Guildford - get the train!

+1 and take a couple of tinniess for the journey