Oyster Card and claiming as expense

[NickNick]

Buy a pack of blank cab receipts from Rymans and fill in whatever you like.

Not that I ever did of course.

You want Custom Receipts.
http://www.customreceipts.com/

[spig]

I've lived in zone 1 central London for a long time now, and need to travel almost daily to a couple of clientco offices from home and sometimes between them. Zone 1 weekly/monthly travelcard on oyster is not possible, you can only get zone 1-2 which is a waste for me as I rarely travel that far out of London unless it's long distance on a proper train, I see no reason to ever get the tube out into the suburbs having tried it once before. So I always use PAYG oyster.

I have a peronsal oyster for weekends and evenings, obviously no claim on expenses. I have a work oyster card for the daily commute which I expense claim through brolly, always top up by the max £50 and get receipt to submit. I also have a clientco funded one for intersite travel which I submit receipts to them for. I never register oystercards, I see no point.

Getting the last dozen or so journeys or top up amounts on a can be done easily at any station. I've refunded half a dozen or so Oysters with no problems at all, take 5 minutes at any station (in zone 1 at least), getting your £3 back for the cost of the card as well as any unused credit. Had loads of mates who've visited for the weekend over the years do that as well to avoid the ludicrous £4 zone 1 journey cost on paper tickets. They stick the full amount straight back on your debit/credit card.

[TheFaQQer]

Does that not present an issue reconciling actual journeys taken for business purposes with expenditure?

I would imagine that for you it is not too difficult to prove that your journeys in London are all business related. HMRC could challenge that for people who live in or near London I would have thought?

I'm only in London on business, so it should be fairly easy to argue.

[Gonzo]

I have mine on a £20 auto top-up charged to company debit card.

Does that not present an issue reconciling actual journeys taken for business purposes with expenditure?

I would imagine that for you it is not too difficult to prove that your journeys in London are all business related. HMRC could challenge that for people who live in or near London I would have thought?

[TheFaQQer]

I have mine on a £20 auto top-up charged to company debit card.

[MPwannadecentincome]

Well thanks for the quick info everyone - 48 hours and 8 weeks is no hassle for me as that all fits in within a month's expense claim anyway.

The other benefit is no more queueing at the ticket office or the machine digging out change - which I would have spent on the car park ticket anyway.

As my journey will cross 8 zones - yes I live in zone 8 - I think its worthwhile for me even for just once a month.

And I probably won't top up by more than £20 either.

So I'm off to the local retailer this weekend to buy one ready for Monday - I'm lucky that I live in an area where it can be used on the overland train as well!

Cheers

[Gonzo]

Get a cabbie to give you more than one receipt and fill in whatever you like.

Buy a pack of blank cab receipts from Rymans and fill in whatever you like.

Not that I ever did of course.

[Gonzo]

But try and get the credit on them back when you are sure that you never need it again. There's still £36 on mine.

Even when working in London I never top up more than twenty quid at a time...

Me neither. The balance was so high because I transferred over the unused credit on two cards that I loaned to my in-laws when they were visiting last October. I tried to get the credit refunded - but it was too difficult and transferring it to my card ended up being the only option that I could complete without too much difficulty.

[HairyArsedBloke]

I am thinking of getting an Oyster Card for my once-in-month business travel into London.

I haven't asked my umbrella yet how this works as far as claiming expenses goes but I am thinking of switching to Ltd co anyway, so as each journey does not have a "receipt" how does this work out for claiming expenses?

Would I have to prove who I was meeting to prove I got there?

Cheers
Milind

Get a cabbie to give you more than one receipt and fill in whatever you like.

[NickFitz]

If the card is registered online then it should be possible to get the history of all journeys made with the card, and that should be enough for the OP's purposes.

Ah, yes - it does now show all journeys. However:

Please note, it normally takes 48 hours for journeys to be added to your statement.

For legal reasons we are only able to display up to eight weeks of data.

If it is only needed once per month I would be inclined not to bother with it and use the old fashioned paper travelcard instead.

That would mean losing the Oyster daily price cap. The additional cost would almost certainly wipe out the gain from claiming the travel as a business expense, rendering the whole process moot.

There's still £36 on mine.

Even when working in London I never top up more than twenty quid at a time...

[Gonzo]

Unless they've improved things, you can only see journeys that you've made using credit added to the card online, not credit bought at a ticket machine or in a shop.

And of course when you buy credit online, you have to wait until the next day, then go to the station you specified to have it added to the card.

Nice joined-up thinking when they designed that system...

If the card is registered online then it should be possible to get the history of all journeys made with the card, and that should be enough for the OP's purposes.

If it is only needed once per month I would be inclined not to bother with it and use the old fashioned paper travelcard instead.

When the Oystercards were introduced I was quick to take one up because I was not a daily tube user and found it much more convenient to have a pay as you go card for the two or three times per month that I did.

But try and get the credit on them back when you are sure that you never need it again. There's still £36 on mine.

[rpgpgmr1]

Phone the Oystercard helpdesk ( think number on TFL / Oyster website) . They quite happily post out a paper statement of last 90 days useage. I did that and know couple other companies that request Oyster card useage on regular basis ( i.e a "shared office Oyster card " for business use within London ) .

[NickFitz]

IIRC, once you've registered your oyster online you can print your PAYG transactions off like a bank statement.

Simply submit those as a receipt to the umbrella / Ltd co Finance Director.

Unless they've improved things, you can only see journeys that you've made using credit added to the card online, not credit bought at a ticket machine or in a shop.

And of course when you buy credit online, you have to wait until the next day, then go to the station you specified to have it added to the card.

Nice joined-up thinking when they designed that system...

[Moscow Mule]

I am thinking of getting an Oyster Card for my once-in-month business travel into London.

I haven't asked my umbrella yet how this works as far as claiming expenses goes but I am thinking of switching to Ltd co anyway, so as each journey does not have a "receipt" how does this work out for claiming expenses?

Would I have to prove who I was meeting to prove I got there?

Cheers
Milind

IIRC, once you've registered your oyster online you can print your PAYG transactions off like a bank statement.

Simply submit those as a receipt to the umbrella / Ltd co Finance Director.

[MPwannadecentincome]

I am thinking of getting an Oyster Card for my once-in-month business travel into London.

I haven't asked my umbrella yet how this works as far as claiming expenses goes but I am thinking of switching to Ltd co anyway, so as each journey does not have a "receipt" how does this work out for claiming expenses?

Would I have to prove who I was meeting to prove I got there?

Cheers
Milind