Guests at annual parties

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I read through your longer post and this detail is still not clear (and I didn't see if any accountant backed you up or not). Does my company secretary count as a guest or a valid company person, firstly?

Does it matter?

If she counts as any other employee then she could probably invite a guest of her own. If she doesn't or you want to err on the side of caution then make her the only guest.

At the end of the day if HMRC query the amount they are going to evaluate whether or not the event was primarily for employees and what the cost per head was.

As a one person (or even two person) company I'd be erring towards keeping it to directors/employees only, maybe your spouse or partner too.

My wife is company secretary and has a small salary and if I use the annual event exemption (I didn't this Christmas but may do at another event) I would have no qualms claiming for both of us.

[d000hg]

The cost per head has to include everyone.

I read through your longer post and this detail is still not clear (and I didn't see if any accountant backed you up or not). Does my company secretary count as a guest or a valid company person, firstly?

[MrMarkyMark]

Can anyone clarify a)who may be invited

I've heard Suity is available

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Search? We only discussed this for the millionth time on here last month.

Strictly speaking anyone can attend your annual event so long as that event is primarily for entertaining employees. So it would certainly be acceptable for say a company with dozens of employees to invite the odd client or supplier for example.

If you're the only director/employee then it probably be harder to justify anyone other than your wife (but as the company secretary you could probably both get away with a guest each).

The cost per head has to include everyone.

Here's my longer post from the last thread on this:
http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...ml#post2170910

Or this one:
http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...ml#post2171684

[d000hg]

My understanding is each director/employee may legally bring one guest who gets the same £150 exemption but this page doesn't mention that: EIM21690 - Particular benefits: annual parties and other social functions

Can anyone clarify a)who may be invited b)who may be paid for by the company, backed up with a link?

In MyCo, my wife is the company secretary but that doesn't make her a director or employee and I wanted to double-check everything is above board.

As an aside, this page is interesting for those taking very low salaries, but my understanding is that contractor-directors are exempt of the exclusion rules since we DO have material interest in the company? The benefits code: excluded employment