Tax on Company computers

[Mailman]

Is it OK because "everybody" does it?

BUT...why does everybody do it?

Perhaps the answer is...because paying tax has become so oppresive in this country.

Maybe if Gordo actually made the tax system easy to use and stopped taxing everything under the sun then people will stop trying to use all "legal" means possible to avoid paying tax.

And taxing computers lent to employees is another example of taxing everything under the sun, which in turn drives people towards tax avoidance.

Mailman

[ASB]

This seems to fit in really well with the "lease a PC" scheme. Here employers are actively encouraged to lease equipment to the employees. Anf gflog it to them for a tenner after 3 years. The payments the employee make come from salary before deductions, i.e. full tax and NI (ee and er) relief.

[zathras]

Lemme see: company gives you the benefit of personal use of a laptop, so you don't have to buy one with your own money net of tax. So that's a benefit in kind with a monetary value. Chancellor wants you to pay tax on that.

Yes, that does sound fair. Is that what you don't like about it?

The original principle behind the HCI initiative was 2 fold

1. To encourage the use of computers and by extension the skills of the workforce

2. To make home working more attractive and therefore reduce the number of people commuting.

By removing it the inescapable conclusion is that the government wants us to be unskilled in the use of new technology and is happy for us to put pressure on the transport infrastructure by making totally pointless jouneys into an office.

[ASB]

Yes I'm saying that. I pay for these things personally. The broadband connection is mine: if I made significant use of it for business ("I uploaded my CV" does not count) then I'd think about claiming a proportion. Or maybe not, on the grounds that I'd have the connection anyway.

Likewise the mobile phones. They are mine. I claim some of the bill when there is unusually high business activity, eg lots of foreign calls. Otherwise, it's just a normal cost of living.

I just don't have the mentality of minimising tax by using business stuff for personal use.


Are you saying that you think it's not stealing to do what you mention? Or are just just saying that there's nothing wrong with stealing?

Admirable, but overzealous under UK rules.

Take simply the phone. Current UK legislation (your regime may of course be different) says that an employer can provide a phone. It can pay the bill. If the employer chooses to pay for personal calls then this attracts a BIK charge on the user. This is currently nil (but used to be rather more than that).

Of course stealing a ream of A4 from the client if wrong, but you do seem to be lumping rather too many things together.