Reply to: Christmas is coming - reminder about your tax-free turkey

[G8_Summit]

anybody ordered theirs yet?

I'm not sure how long a fresh turkey will keep actually?

Depends if it's still alive or not I suppose

[~Craig~]

anybody ordered theirs yet?

I'm not sure how long a fresh turkey will keep actually?

[TheFaQQer]

Maybe you send the revenue the leftover carcass! with a note pinned to it saying 'account for this!'

I like that idea!

[MonkeyWorld]

If you're buying a turkey (or whatever) how do you account for it?

Maybe you send the revenue the leftover carcass! with a note pinned to it saying 'account for this!'

[TheFaQQer]

If you're buying a turkey (or whatever) how do you account for it?

[FiveTimes]

Would a round the world trip on a luxury cruise liner and a Ferrari Enzo be pushing it?

My dispensation says it's OK.

Phew, that's good as I've just booked the cruise.. great things dispensations....

[TheFaQQer]

Would a round the world trip on a luxury cruise liner and a Ferrari Enzo be pushing it?

My dispensation says it's OK.

[DimPrawn]

Would a round the world trip on a luxury cruise liner and a Ferrari Enzo be pushing it?

[dude69]

For good measure, they're probably talking about an Iceland own-brand turkey as well, so you might want to think twice about expensing that organic Duchy Originals bird (no, not Camilla).

Nonsense.

If a company gave me an Iceland turkey for Christmas I'd resign in disgust.

There was actually quite a high-profile case before the Revenue on the issues of turkey at Christmas:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3345859.stm

The amount of tax payable was £17/turkey

Now I'm not sure the tax that's based on (basic or higher rate), but if it's 40%, that implies a bird costing £43.

So clearly £50 IS a reasonable amount

[dude69]

Nice one! I've been contracting for almost 10 years now and know a few more of the occasional perks of contracting than some, but never comes across or heard about this one....trivial gifts.

The guidance does mention a bottle of wine as an example, rather than case of wine - which might be stretching things, but how about say a £50 hamper ?

"
If the gift extends beyond one of the items mentioned above, for example from a bottle or two to a case of wine, or from a turkey to a Christmas hamper, you will need to consider the contents and cost before being able to determine whether the benefit is trivial.
"

Clearly a hamper *may* be considered trivial - it depends on the cost -this one definitely isn't trivial:

http://www.fortnumandmason.com/shopp...product&page=1

but a £50 one maybe is

[NickFitz]

The guidance does mention a bottle of wine as an example, rather than case of wine - which might be stretching things, but how about say a £50 hamper ?

Depends on whether that's a "trivial benefit". Given that one of their examples is "a box of chocolates" I would imagine that "a bloody great hamper" would not be seen as "trivial".

Note that it also says "an ordinary bottle of wine", so arguments that "you can easily spend £50 on a good bottle of wine" aren't relevant - I'm guessing that anything much more expensive than Sainsbury's own-brand sparkling might get you into trouble.

For good measure, they're probably talking about an Iceland own-brand turkey as well, so you might want to think twice about expensing that organic Duchy Originals bird (no, not Camilla).

[MonkeyWorld]

Nice one! I've been contracting for almost 10 years now and know a few more of the occasional perks of contracting than some, but never comes across or heard about this one....trivial gifts.

The guidance does mention a bottle of wine as an example, rather than case of wine - which might be stretching things, but how about say a £50 hamper ?

[dude69]

£76/£43... how big was/is that and how many did you feed ?

About 13 pounds in weight. The £76 is a Kelly Bronze, supposedly creme de la creme, recommended by Delia, Nigella et al., but I didn't rate it as well as other Bronze free-range turkeys I've had, but maybe I overcooked it.

Fifty quid is a fair price for a non-battery-farmed turkey of that size that hasn't been force fed antibiotics, and packed in a 60 kilos to a square metre, and slaughtered at 12 weeks (compared with six months for a free range bird). You can easily buy for instance the Dutchy Original free range bronze birds in Waitrose and Sainsburys, had one of these two years ago, very nice.

God knows why any wealthy contractor would be eating crap for Christmas dinner....

[TheFaQQer]

Gosh great minds......

Where?

What are they doing on CUK?

[Gonzo]

How much does an ordinary bottle of wine cost? Is my company allowed to buy it's employees a bottle of champagne each?

Since Champagne is wine I can't see why not (although it would be nice to find out how ambitious you can get!)

Gosh great minds......

My thoughts exactly ....