Reply to: Umbrella rejecting claims

[Jase]

I would never recommend Giant to anyone.

Giant don't like it when you leave...I have experienced it also

Same for me - Giant are to be avoided. It took forever to get my P45, every excuse under the sun.

[Sausage Surprise]

Giant don't like it when you leave...I have experienced it also

[sammywammy]

Well considering that they would not be the first contractor to have to leave their umbrella company after their first client, it may be of interest to other people (including myself) how their umbrella dealt with the earlier claims. From what they are suggesting, the umbrella company only disputed the outstanding claims.

[cojak]

Indeed.

But since the thread is 8 months old it may be a moot point.

[sammywammy]

The OP mentions that the umbrella company refused to accept their outstanding expenses claims but surely, if they are applying this "first and only assignment" rule, to be consistent they should also look at all previous claims that they had indeed accepted?

[rickom]

Cheers for the shoulder guys!

If you believe you claim is valid as you change your arrangements to go Ltd then why don't you just claim those expenses which you have been unable to submit through your tax return. The net affect on the overall tax you pay is the same (though you will get the NI hit still).

The only requirement that exists for the brolly to process any expenses is that laid out in your contract of employment or service agreement. It seems you agree that they are not in breach of this.

That's great, I'll have a word with my accountant and see if I could pass a tax claim on that.

[Wanderer]

Agreed. I am not trying to cut any corners. I unfortunately cannot reply "Yes" as they have now categorically asked me not to.

Oh well. Take it on the chin and move on I guess. You win some, you lose some.

Remember though that it's not the brolly that did this to you, it's HMRC and their arcane rules.

[ASB]

Agreed. I am not trying to cut any corners. I unfortunately cannot reply "Yes" as they have now categorically asked me not to.Legal implications if any are the last I am looking for while making an exit.

The reason I feel mugged, is it is a part of their "routine" ( I can't say policy) ; to inform the candidates that this above comes into effect; which I was not.That gives people like me a chance to consider the decision or on the other hand get my expenses out of the way or better let the contract run through.(Mind here that i had previous months expenses to be claimed as well, it was denied in retrospective terms as well) I have an apology letter for the same, but that is not going to help my situation in any way. Now they have put their hands up and pushed it onto my shoulders. Overnight courteous people have changed their tone.

I am at fault for not reading the fine print;they are at fault for being unprofessional.I'd not recommend Giant on my experience.

If you believe you claim is valid as you change your arrangements to go Ltd then why don't you just claim those expenses which you have been unable to submit through your tax return. The net affect on the overall tax you pay is the same (though you will get the NI hit still).

The only requirement that exists for the brolly to process any expenses is that laid out in your contract of employment or service agreement. It seems you agree that they are not in breach of this.

[rickom]

They have to ask these questions. If you give the wrong answers then they can't pay the claim because it doesn't comply with HMRC's rules for expenses claimed from a temp work location.



It's up to you to consider your circumstances and answer the questions as best you can. If you don't know, then you have to consider the probabilities and made an educated guess. You can't claim expenses if you reasonably expect to be on site for > 24 months and this is the only assignment you will take on with this agency or it's the only temp assignment you will ever do.

Let me tell you a secret though - the answer they are looking for is yes to all three questions. If you answer anything other than yes to these questions then HMRC say you can't claim travel/subsistence. It's not the brolly's policy, it's HMRC's policy. Your umbrella won't want to get into a big discussion about the ins and outs of it, it's just the way the HMRC rules are.

Agreed. I am not trying to cut any corners. I unfortunately cannot reply "Yes" as they have now categorically asked me not to.Legal implications if any are the last I am looking for while making an exit.

The reason I feel mugged, is it is a part of their "routine" ( I can't say policy) ; to inform the candidates that this above comes into effect; which I was not.That gives people like me a chance to consider the decision or on the other hand get my expenses out of the way or better let the contract run through.(Mind here that i had previous months expenses to be claimed as well, it was denied in retrospective terms as well) I have an apology letter for the same, but that is not going to help my situation in any way. Now they have put their hands up and pushed it onto my shoulders. Overnight courteous people have changed their tone.

I am at fault for not reading the fine print;they are at fault for being unprofessional.I'd not recommend Giant on my experience.

[TheFaQQer]

So there's nothing sinister about it, it's just the jobsworth's following the company rule book.

It's not quite, though. As an employer, they must check whether the employee is entitled to claim expenses or not. It's HMRC's rulebook, not the company.

You want to be free of all such bollocks, get your own company. As you are about to discover!

Not quite - it just means that you need to be up to speed on the rules rather than someone else.

[Wanderer]

they have a set of questions on the site which I cannot confirm.

They have to ask these questions. If you give the wrong answers then they can't pay the claim because it doesn't comply with HMRC's rules for expenses claimed from a temp work location.

The questions are :

Have you, or do you expect to be, working for this end-client for less than 24 months?

Have you had, or do you expect to have, more than 1 temporary assignment with different end-clients at different sites with agency ?

Do you expect that this temporary assignment will NOT be your last one with agency ?

It's up to you to consider your circumstances and answer the questions as best you can. If you don't know, then you have to consider the probabilities and made an educated guess. You can't claim expenses if you reasonably expect to be on site for > 24 months and this is the only assignment you will take on with this agency or it's the only temp assignment you will ever do.

Let me tell you a secret though - the answer they are looking for is yes to all three questions. If you answer anything other than yes to these questions then HMRC say you can't claim travel/subsistence. It's not the brolly's policy, it's HMRC's policy. Your umbrella won't want to get into a big discussion about the ins and outs of it, it's just the way the HMRC rules are.

[malvolio]

Had a word with them, they are not budging & citing it is part of their policy. Why is it that all companies treat you like tulips once you hand in your papers. This is Giant umbrella we are talking about.

The question i am caught under is :
Do you expect that this temporary assignment will NOT be your last one with agency ?

Agency meaning umbrella. Since i have "resigned" from them , they have put their hands up. Lesson learnt.

The reason for this being that if it is your only role with them, you have to be treated as a full time employee with all that represents interms of employment rights and so on. Plus, of course, you can't claim bsuiness expenses since you are an FTE with a single location. As soon as you have two engagements, you can be treated as a temp.

So there's nothing sinister about it, it's just the jobsworth's following the company rule book. You want to be free of all such bollocks, get your own company. As you are about to discover!

[rickom]

Had a word with them, they are not budging & citing it is part of their policy. Why is it that all companies treat you like tulips once you hand in your papers. This is Giant umbrella we are talking about.

The question i am caught under is :
Do you expect that this temporary assignment will NOT be your last one with agency ?

Agency meaning umbrella. Since i have "resigned" from them , they have put their hands up. Lesson learnt.

[BolshieBastard]

Hello all,

I decided to take the plunge and start a limited. Informed my umbrella that I'll be not using their services any more. I had yet to claim a previous months expense when I had called them up regarding this and for December (current month). The umbrella is now suggesting I cannot claim the any site based expenses like subsistence/travel as they have a set of questions on the site which I cannot confirm. The questions are :

Have you, or do you expect to be, working for this end-client for less than 24 months?
Have you had, or do you expect to have, more than 1 temporary assignment with different end-clients at different sites with agency ?
Do you expect that this temporary assignment will NOT be your last one with agency ?

I am told i cannot confirm the above and am now being shafted for two months of claims. I do not understand that these are all do you "expect" questions which could be justified either way , but categorically I've been told I cannot make a claim. Any suggestions?

Happy holidays!

Cheers!

Get onto the director of the umbrella, tell him to tell his people to stop pissing about and authorise your legitimate expenses as you have been prevented from completing the required info.

Also, bear in mind its never a good idea to tell someone something is changing until you have got all the money you are owed out of them!

[NotAllThere]

Misread the 2nd question.

Look, the point of these questions is to make sure that you don't break the rules about expenses claiming - like the 24 month rule, and that you can't claim T&S expenses if you leave permiedom, have one contract, then go back to permiedom.

The questions are pretty dumb, seeming to have been written by somone who doesn't actually understand themselves why they're asking the questions. But the answers are simple:

Have you, or do you expect to be, working for this end-client for less than 24 months? Yes - your contract is only 6 months. As soon as you know your going to exceed 24 months, you must stop claiming T&S.
Have you had, or do you expect to have, more than 1 temporary assignment with different end-clients at different sites with agency ? Yes. Chances are you'll be working for different agencies
Do you expect that this temporary assignment will NOT be your last one with agency ? Yes - you want to keep contracting.

Now. Confirm the above and get your expenses in.