Renting temporary Accommodation.

[DanJudge]

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.

[blacjac]

Everything seems OK to me.

Overnight subsistence for staying away from home can be claimed too.

Meals might be claimable - as long as they are things that you wouldn't normally eat at home. E.g. if you have to eat out you can claim it. But buying a microwave meal and eating it at your digs is probably not claimable.

[kal]

Everything seems OK to me.

Overnight subsistence for staying away from home can be claimed too.

Meals might be claimable - as long as they are things that you wouldn't normally eat at home. E.g. if you have to eat out you can claim it. But buying a microwave meal and eating it at your digs is probably not claimable.

Expensing the TV to the company might be pushing it

[stek]

Friday evening M3/M25/M40/M42/A42/M1 is a nightmare!

To Sheffield reckon on 5/6hrs, took me 9hrs from F'boro to Leeds recently....

[Ticktock]

Everything seems OK to me.

Overnight subsistence for staying away from home can be claimed too.

Meals might be claimable - as long as they are things that you wouldn't normally eat at home. E.g. if you have to eat out you can claim it. But buying a microwave meal and eating it at your digs is probably not claimable.

I'm hoping for an accountant to chip in, but when I spent 6 months of last year doing Mon-Fri in a shared flat in Edinburgh, I expensed my travel (petrol to Heathrow, flights, bus / taxi at the other end), my rent for the room, meals out when I was lazy and groceries to cook at the flat when I wasn't. My accountant cleared these, as the expenses were required for me to service my contract, and all I was doing was reducing the costs of feeding myself - whether I bought the food and cooked it, or sat in a restaurant and had someone else cook it I would still need to buy and eat that food.

I can't think of anything else I claimed for.

[aoxomoxoa]

Any advice as to what else I can claim as expenses would be really appreciated

Thank, Dan.

But don't forget that what we're talking about here is what you as an individual can legitimately claim as business expenses from YourCo. What expenses YourCo can charge to the client will be entirely dependent on what the contract between YourCo and the client/agent says.

[DirtyDog]

I'm hoping for an accountant to chip in, but when I spent 6 months of last year doing Mon-Fri in a shared flat in Edinburgh, I expensed my travel (petrol to Heathrow, flights, bus / taxi at the other end), my rent for the room, meals out when I was lazy and groceries to cook at the flat when I wasn't. My accountant cleared these, as the expenses were required for me to service my contract, and all I was doing was reducing the costs of feeding myself - whether I bought the food and cooked it, or sat in a restaurant and had someone else cook it I would still need to buy and eat that food.

I can't think of anything else I claimed for.

I have done similar in the past.

[Bunk]

I'm hoping for an accountant to chip in, but when I spent 6 months of last year doing Mon-Fri in a shared flat in Edinburgh, I expensed my travel (petrol to Heathrow, flights, bus / taxi at the other end), my rent for the room, meals out when I was lazy and groceries to cook at the flat when I wasn't. My accountant cleared these, as the expenses were required for me to service my contract, and all I was doing was reducing the costs of feeding myself - whether I bought the food and cooked it, or sat in a restaurant and had someone else cook it I would still need to buy and eat that food.

I can't think of anything else I claimed for.

I thought there was something in the rules specifically about not being able to claim groceries to make your own meals. The idea being that you would be buying those if you were at home anyway, whereas if you can't prepare your own meals (no kitchen for example) and you have to eat out, then you can claim. I'll have a look on the HMRC website to check I'm not talking rubbish. Which is possible

Edit: Can't seem to find it anywhere so I probably am talking rubbish.

[tarbera]

12 month contract ???

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.

your contract is as long as your notice period (well atually Its same day mostly) my mate had a great house sitting 400 miles away from home emtpy for 8 months when his contract was pulled

[DirtyDog]

I thought there was something in the rules specifically about not being able to claim groceries to make your own meals. The idea being that you would be buying those if you were at home anyway, whereas if you can't prepare your own meals (no kitchen for example) and you have to eat out, then you can claim. I'll have a look on the HMRC website to check I'm not talking rubbish. Which is possible

Edit: Can't seem to find it anywhere so I probably am talking rubbish.

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.