Reply to: Trivial Benefits

[Old Greg]

Are you really? Really really?

Is he what? Good?

[Fred Bloggs]

Are you really? Really really?

IMO - Better not to diss someone from a profession offering help with no strings attached. There's a good boy now, eh? (Of course, I suppose I could go and see what my accountant says?).

[northernladuk]

Good to hear you have been making use of that!

Are you really? Really really?

[Ricky@IntouchAccounting]

Indeed, Mrs Bloggs and I have hosted our two children at our annual Christmas shin dig in years gone by.

Good to hear you have been making use of that!

[Old Greg]

Indeed, Mrs Bloggs and I have hosted our two children at our annual Christmas shin dig in years gone by.

600 quid. Nice.

[Fred Bloggs]

You could potentially claim more from the social event (annual function).

Indeed, Mrs Bloggs and I have hosted our two children at our annual Christmas shin dig in years gone by.

[Ricky@IntouchAccounting]

And presumably, the £150 per head social event allowance is available too? A decent £900 of tax free benefits for a pair of company directors.

You could potentially claim more from the social event (annual function). Please see the below:

HMRC’s rules for annual function(s)

For your event to qualify for the tax exemption, it must be:



1. Annually recurring

The date when the event is held or the type of the event is irrelevant, as long as it’s annually recurring HMRC allow it to be claimable. If you decide to hold a one-off event for either just yourself or others (such as employees, family, etc), you must still account for the expenses, but they will not be treated by HMRC as tax allowable.



2. Available to employees in one location

If your Limited Company has employees in various locations, the event must be held in one central location, which is accessible for all. The event must be available for both directors and staff, or director’s guests (such as spouses or civil partners, and children of the directors and employees).



So in theory, as the director of your own Limited Company you could hold a Christmas party for your immediate family.



3. A maximum of £150 per person

For each person who attends the event an additional £150 per person is allowable. The £150 is an absolute maximum which HMRC strictly applies.



The £150 limit must include VAT, transport costs to and from the event, and the total cost of any overnight accommodation. These costs are then combined and divided between the number of attendees, to arrive at the cost per head.



Should the total amount per head exceed the £150 limit, the maximum exemption will not apply and the total amount will be taxed. HMRC are very strict about this allowance so if you’re unsure, speak to your Personal Accountant to ensure your calculations are correct.



What happens if you have more than one event per year?

Hosting company events isn’t just exclusive to the festive period, you are able to host events throughout the year. You could choose for example, to host a summer event and a Christmas event. So long as the total combined amount does not exceed £150 per head per tax year, the exemption will still apply.



Should any individual event cost exceed this limit, HMRC will only apply the exemption to expenses for the events that fell within the allowable limit.

[Ricky@IntouchAccounting]

What sort of thing can it consist of?
I presume amazon vouchers count as cash so not valid.
What about a £300 bar tab in my local?

Amazon vouchers can be bought for the trivial benefits, so you could buy up to 6 x £50 vouchers.

[Fred Bloggs]

Get yourself a gift voucher for your usual supermarket, use it do your weekly shop and pocket the cash equivalent.

Exactly. Or a voucher(s) for John Lewis to buy homewares.

[Old Greg]

Get yourself a gift voucher for your usual supermarket, use it do your weekly shop and pocket the cash equivalent.

[Fred Bloggs]

And presumably, the £150 per head social event allowance is available too? A decent £900 of tax free benefits for a pair of company directors.

[quackhandle]

You'd think so wouldn't you. Definitely at a year end review or maybe even quarterly to advise you haven't claimed office costs, trivial benefits or anything else they haven't see applied.

I wouldn't be dumping my accountant if they didn't though as I've yet to see one do it properly so it appears to be a problem across the board than with a particualar outfit.

I still have the old emails, so I best check to see if they have mentioned it before (but I'm sure I would have remembered!)

No, wouldn't dump them a simple "Throw me a frickin' bone here, I'm the boss, need the info" would be fine.

qh

[northernladuk]

Fair one, but as we pay accountants who should be able to inform us of things like this in a timely manner.

qh

You'd think so wouldn't you. Definitely at a year end review or maybe even quarterly to advise you haven't claimed office costs, trivial benefits or anything else they haven't see applied.

I wouldn't be dumping my accountant if they didn't though as I've yet to see one do it properly so it appears to be a problem across the board than with a particualar outfit.

[quackhandle]

If you google it you'll find articles from CUK and guides on SJD, NW and many many other sites about it. It's not like it's hidden away is some dark text or anything.

trivial benefits contractor - Google Search

Fair one, but as we pay accountants who should be able to inform us of things like this in a timely manner.

qh

[northernladuk]

If you google it you'll find articles from CUK and guides on SJD, NW and many many other sites about it. It's not like it's hidden away is some dark text or anything.

trivial benefits contractor - Google Search