Reply to: Buying an ipad

[JamJarST]

No you can't. Your CC example is wrong because you have an invoice/receipt showing £499 is the cost. In this case he has a receipt for £159.

You can personally invoice your company, you don't need one from the 3rd party vendor.

[SueEllen]

Buy an iPad 2 with wifi and 3G from Tesco for £429 on the company.

Depending on how much data you want to get, either go for a GiffGaff deal for £5 a month (500Mb), £7.50 (1Gb) or £12.50 (3Gb), or pay 3 £15 a month (10Gb). Pay as you need it if you don't want to put the line rental through the company.

Personally, I'd just expense the whole lot and be prepared to argue it with HMRC.

WHS +1

If you have proof that you needed it for business reasons then it's not an issue.

The fact that you have incidental use of it personally isn't a problem as you didn't buy it for personal use as you didn't need it for that.

I have equipment I brought for the company with the primary purpose of using it for business which I use personally, and personal equipment that I've ended up using for the business. I won't sell it to the company as for example the fact that I decided that one of my TVs' makes a good monitor sometimes doesn't change it's primary purpose as a TV for non-business use.

BTW a iPad and any tablet device is a "computer". If you type "tablet computers" into google a whole load of links come up using those words and the words "tablet PC".

[Wanderer]

Buy an iPad 2 with wifi and 3G from Tesco for £429 on the company. GiffGaff deal for £5 a month (500Mb), £7.50 (1Gb) or £12.50 (3Gb), or pay 3 £15 a month (10Gb).
Personally, I'd just expense the whole lot and be prepared to argue it with HMRC.

^^^^ WHS.

Hell, it's only a few hundred quid, get on with it and stop wringing your hands about it. Just buy the thing outright and put it on expenses.

As TheFaQQer says I don't think it makes business sense to go into a 24 month 3G contract, what if you finish your work for the client and decide to sell the ipad or if the thing gets lost/stolen/destroyed or you finish the contract and don't need the 3G for a while? (I don't use 3G on my iPad at the moment). Since it's for business then put the cost of the PAYG SIM through the company too.

[TheFaQQer]

Buy an iPad 2 with wifi and 3G from Tesco for £429 on the company.

Depending on how much data you want to get, either go for a GiffGaff deal for £5 a month (500Mb), £7.50 (1Gb) or £12.50 (3Gb), or pay 3 £15 a month (10Gb). Pay as you need it if you don't want to put the line rental through the company.

Personally, I'd just expense the whole lot and be prepared to argue it with HMRC.

[d000hg]

Of course you can.

No you can't. Your CC example is wrong because you have an invoice/receipt showing £499 is the cost. In this case he has a receipt for £159.

[JamJarST]

You can't personally purchase it for £159 upfront then charge the company £499 and get away with it.



Ok, that caught my interest. How does this work?

Can I buy a biro for 10p and sell it to MyCo for £100 ? for £1000 ?

Ah... penny drops ... so long as you pay personal tax on the £340 "profit" then this would be ok ?

Exactly.

[Platypus]

You can't personally purchase it for £159 upfront then charge the company £499 and get away with it.

Of course you can.

Ok, that caught my interest. How does this work?

Can I buy a biro for 10p and sell it to MyCo for £100 ? for £1000 ?

Ah... penny drops ... so long as you pay personal tax on the £340 "profit" then this would be ok ?

[JamJarST]

I think youre totally entitled to purchase it , but strictly speaking you can never use it for anything other than work, or you have duality

If I was hector, given your argument I wouldn't contest the 3g model even, and if it does ever have duality then you can expense a proportion of the monthly cost.

No tax expert, but its certainly not a micky take, like the current governments ploy to all get theirs when they certainly dont need them for their roles.

<Oh gawd, I've gone into politics again.....>

As long as the private use is incidental, then there is no duality, sam as a laptop. Amount of incidental use doesn't matter either.

[Scoobos]

I think youre totally entitled to purchase it , but strictly speaking you can never use it for anything other than work, or you have duality

If I was hector, given your argument I wouldn't contest the 3g model even, and if it does ever have duality then you can expense a proportion of the monthly cost.

No tax expert, but its certainly not a micky take, like the current governments ploy to all get theirs when they certainly dont need them for their roles.

<Oh gawd, I've gone into politics again.....>

[Mr.Whippy]

An iPad with 3G would qualify as a Smart Phone would it not?

No it doesn't. It's a tablet, not a phone. VOIP apps don't make it a phone either.

[DaveB]

But thats the root of the problem. I can claim for the Ipad if it was an outright purchase it would be 100% tax deductable.

If I purchase it via three the line rental on an ipad isn't an allowable expense. The problem here is that one method is expensive but tax friendly the other cheaper but tax inefficient and I don't really want dodgy work arounds.

so any ideas apart from buying from three personally and creating an invoice to resolve the problem.

Whats the problem with the line rental? HMRC have revised their guidance on mobile phones now to allow for smart phones as well. An iPad with 3G would qualify as a Smart Phone would it not?

[eek]

You can't personally purchase it for £159 upfront then charge the company £499 and get away with it.

Just put whatever option you wish to buy thru the company (company reimburses your personal capital outlay), then the company pays the bill monthly (best to get the monthly contract in the company name).

The very worst that could happen ever is that your accountant or the taxman tuts under his breath and disallows something. Oh dear, you say, sorry about that, I won't claim the tax relief for it then. Fine.

But thats the root of the problem. I can claim for the Ipad if it was an outright purchase it would be 100% tax deductable.

If I purchase it via three the line rental on an ipad isn't an allowable expense. The problem here is that one method is expensive but tax friendly the other cheaper but tax inefficient and I don't really want dodgy work arounds.

so any ideas apart from buying from three personally and creating an invoice to resolve the problem.

[JamJarST]

You can't personally purchase it for £159 upfront then charge the company £499 and get away with it.

Just put whatever option you wish to buy thru the company (company reimburses your personal capital outlay), then the company pays the bill monthly (best to get the monthly contract in the company name).

The very worst that could happen ever is that your accountant or the taxman tuts under his breath and disallows something. Oh dear, you say, sorry about that, I won't claim the tax relief for it then. Fine.

Of course you can.

[Platypus]

I think I better be clearer with the issue:

if I buy outright the machine costs £499
if I buy via three its £159 upfront +£600 in line rental.

Can I purchase it personally then charge the company £499 and just pay the line rental myself or should I try and get it through the company.

You can't personally purchase it for £159 upfront then charge the company £499 and get away with it.

Just put whatever option you wish to buy thru the company (company reimburses your personal capital outlay), then the company pays the bill monthly (best to get the monthly contract in the company name).

The very worst that could happen ever is that your accountant or the taxman tuts under his breath and disallows something. Oh dear, you say, sorry about that, I won't claim the tax relief for it then. Fine.

[oliverson]

Can't see why this is so complicated. It's a piece of IT kit and you run an IT company so just buy it. Not like you're buying a load of vintage wine or some fine art!!