Reply to: Legitimate expense for Offshore Engineers?

[northernladuk]

I recall once a painter bought an industrial washing machine for his overalls - a normal washing machine wouldn't do the job. When inspected he was asked "do you use it for personal stuff?". "No - just for the overalls". "Good" says the inspector "because if you had it wouldn't have been allowable".

But he didn't walk around after work with it on his wrist.

[Boo]

I recall once a painter bought an industrial washing machine for his overalls - a normal washing machine wouldn't do the job. When inspected he was asked "do you use it for personal stuff?". "No - just for the overalls". "Good" says the inspector "because if you had it wouldn't have been allowable".

The tax inspector is/was wrong to say that. Incidental use is allowed, and whether use is incidental or not is not determined by what proportion of the use is personal, but whether or not the business use is a requirement. Details are somewhere on the HMRC website but icbfa to look for it.

Boo

[Boo]

That's as nice a new watch as I've seen in a long time. Very nice, indeed.

Not a valid business expense though.

It could be but it would depend on having a feature that makes it "wholly, necessarily and exclusively" needed for business purposes. If someone buys it because it is required for business purposes then their incidental use of the watch outside business hours does not affect the rationale for buying it and so it would still be an allowable expense. Eg, someone who works Saturday mornings (only) on a building site is allowed to buy steel capped work boots as an expense even if they wear them to kick heads in every other day of the week.

So the question the OP has to answer in order to decide whether it is an allowable business expense is "what makes this watch necessary to the business purchasing it ?"
Reading the posted review left me without an answer to that question...

Boo

[northernladuk]

Thanks Guys. Along with a little more research then provided contractors who buy the chornograph only use it wholly and exclusively in the course of their business it is actually a legitimate business expense. Granted nearly £1500 for a chronograph is a lot to pay, but then how you run your business is entirely up to you.

Thanks again

Lorne

Surely then if you use it as a watch out of work hours it would incur BIK?

[Lorne]

Thanks Guys. Along with a little more research then provided contractors who buy the chornograph only use it wholly and exclusively in the course of their business it is actually a legitimate business expense. Granted nearly £1500 for a chronograph is a lot to pay, but then how you run your business is entirely up to you.

Thanks again

Lorne

[northernladuk]

I was thinking that since it has a chronograph (stopwatch) built into it, and a stopwatch is pretty much essential offshore, for example for timing pipelay welding passes, then it should count as the sort of thing someone could possibly buy solely for business use.

The fact that someone might spend almost £1500 on a stopwatch is purely a matter of how they run their business.

The clue is in the 'wholly and exclusively' line. Will let you work the rest out.

EDIT : Saying that at the end of the day it is up to your tolerance of risk and how happy you can be by convincing yourself it is ok. The likely hood of you getting investigated is slim to nil so you can put what you want in I guess. Problem will come when you get investigated and a £1500 watch will stick out a mile.

[NotAllThere]

Well, it smelled a bit like spam - signing up just to promote your product. But closer inspection and it seems to be crispy bacon. Yum.

I was thinking that since it has a chronograph (stopwatch) built into it, and a stopwatch is pretty much essential offshore, for example for timing pipelay welding passes, then it should count as the sort of thing someone could possibly buy solely for business use.

The fact that someone might spend almost £1500 on a stopwatch is purely a matter of how they run their business.

I recall once a painter bought an industrial washing machine for his overalls - a normal washing machine wouldn't do the job. When inspected he was asked "do you use it for personal stuff?". "No - just for the overalls". "Good" says the inspector "because if you had it wouldn't have been allowable".

So, in my view, and IANAC or a tax inspector, if you are someone who needs to time pipelay welding passes (Whatever they are), then so long as you never use it to actually tell the time except on business, it'll be allowable.

[Lorne]

I was thinking that since it has a chronograph (stopwatch) built into it, and a stopwatch is pretty much essential offshore, for example for timing pipelay welding passes, then it should count as the sort of thing someone could possibly buy solely for business use.

The fact that someone might spend almost £1500 on a stopwatch is purely a matter of how they run their business.

[Alan @ BroomeAffinity]

That's as nice a new watch as I've seen in a long time. Very nice, indeed.

Not a valid business expense though.

[Lorne]

I don't know but personally I doubt it.

Either way it looks nice and this review is good. I do like this comment from the review



Any chance of a discount?

If you really would like a discount then you can always send me an email.

And, of course it's NOT spam! I've been a contractor for 25 years now, so I've come across one or two seriously good business expenses. In fact I've been a contractor so long I even remember when it was the in thing to register your company as a church - something to do with charitable status tax dodges.

The Reverend Lorne of the Church of Classic Chronographs

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Definitely not a legitimate expense but it looks fab

[simondolan]

No. Nice job though

Hello All,

I've been a contractor for 25 years now in the oil & gas industry. Recently I turned my hobby of building chronographs into a new sideline and set up a seperate company so that I can do it all properly.

The chronograph I build and sell is called the OFFSHORE Professional Field Engineer. It's the result of many years tinkering and breaking watches in my day job to finally come up with a fully engineered chronograph that actually stands up to the daily treatment I give it. Because of this I consider it as a suitable timekeeping tool for my trade.

The question I have is would it be an acceptable expense for other Engineers? By which I mean, if another contractor buys one can he set it off as a legitimate business expense?

[northernladuk]

Is a watch wholly and exclusively for the business?? Is it safety wear? You would have to have a pretty exceptional situation to be able to answer yes to either of those so I would also say no personally.

[JamJarST]

Surely this is spam?

[eek]

I don't know but personally I doubt it.

Either way it looks nice and this review is good. I do like this comment from the review

While some may bristle at that last remark, I think it showcases the sort of no-nonsense engineering that has gone into this watch.

Any chance of a discount?