Reply to: Business insurance

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Is nobody going to rip CP for building himself a luxury den/shed using company money?

Heh. For the record, I've fully researched this and spoke to my accountant.

In summary:

* Yes, the business can pay for it. It's wholly and exclusively for business *purposes* (I only need it as I work mostly from home) although there may be small amounts of non business use. It's not a tax deductible expense in any case, and no capital allowances on buildings although fixtures and fittings, normal office furniture and installation costs should be deductible.

* The VAT on the building cost only should be reclaiable even on FRS as over £2k. No apportionment for any private use needed on FRS.

* Potential issue with BIK. In theory, it should be like any other business asset. So long as personal use is not "significant", which it shouldn't be, it should avoid a BIK charge. HMRC guidance is confusing as while it states that office buildings provided on your business premises are allowable, it says if provided at an employees home it is not. Confusing, as my home is also my business premises. Accountant seems to think it shouldn't be a problem as long as it is mainly used for business.

* Could potentially affect CGT on sale of home but unlikely to be an issue in practice due to small footprint and there still being the occasional element of personal use (it's a balancing act).

* Business rate liability needs to be checked but I've had discussions with the valuation office and they don't seem to think it will attract business rates so long as it's clerical work and no visitors.

I think that about covers it all! Hopefully useful for anyone else considering it. Here's my accountants own article on the subject:

http://jf-financial.co.uk/2014/10/22...mited-company/

[d000hg]

DOS is pretty antiquated these days.


Is nobody going to rip CP for building himself a luxury den/shed using company money?

[Troll]

Yep, do you like it?

No for me

[Qdos Contractor]

A naked picture of MarillionFan?

I don't know what that means, but I'm happy if people interpret our logo in their own special way. Like art or whatever.

[d000hg]

Yep, do you like it?

A naked picture of MarillionFan?

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

To clarify, our standard EL/PL rate is £89.28 per annum; I'm assuming from the £145 you quoted that you have more than one person covered.

Yes, 2 people - there was some ambiguity over whether or not I even needed EL as its just me and my wife (company secretary, does a small amount of work and we weren't married when I took out the cover which may have been why I needed it) but for the price I decided to just get it anyway. The Direct Line quote was for 2 people as well.

[Qdos Contractor]

No, and as things stand I'm happy with the premium for professional indemnity. Whenever I've looked you've seemed competitive for that.

But £300 for that office protect policy? 3x the price? It might have higher limits but why over unsure myself? It doesn't seem to have all risks cover for portable equipment either unless I'm missing something.

Ultimately we specialise in contractor specific products and there is relatively little demand for office/homeworker type cover; therefore it's difficult for us to secure as competitive pricing. If there is a particular type of cover that we know will be appealing to contractors we're obviously in a better position to negotiate with insurers.

To clarify, our standard EL/PL rate is £89.28 per annum; I'm assuming from the £145 you quoted that you have more than one person covered.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Why is this posted under general?

Was intended as much a moan as a serious discussion, seemed more appropriate.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

I assume Direct Line don't provide the PI policy?

I know it's more expensive, but we do have an Office Protect product which includes all of the elements of the DL product at higher levels of cover.

No, and as things stand I'm happy with the premium for professional indemnity. Whenever I've looked you've seemed competitive for that.

But £300 for that office protect policy? 3x the price? It might have higher limits but why over unsure myself? It doesn't seem to have all risks cover for portable equipment either unless I'm missing something.

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Its courses for horses, QDOS are specialist in freelance so their policies around IR35 protection etc will be second to none, Direct Line are generalists who try to offer a service with pass appeal, specialist in variably means paying a little extra.

Think of it as Psychocandy v NLUK, they could probably both do the job, but which would you feel better using?

But why would I need and pay for a "specialist" for something as generic as contents, public liability and employers liability insurance? Particularly the last one which is merely a legal box ticking exercise?

It might make sense for professional indemnity but I'm not really talking about that here.

To stretch your analogy, if I needed IR35 advice if probably ask NLUK but if all I needed was advice on fiddling benefits psychocandy would probably suffice.

[Qdos Contractor]

Ooooh you got a new logo!

Yep, do you like it?

[SimonMac]

I assume Direct Line don't provide the PI policy?

I know it's more expensive, but we do have an Office Protect product which includes all of the elements of the DL product at higher levels of cover.

Ooooh you got a new logo!

[Qdos Contractor]

I assume Direct Line don't provide the PI policy?

I know it's more expensive, but we do have an Office Protect product which includes all of the elements of the DL product at higher levels of cover.

[SimonMac]

We are drawing closer to exchanging on our house purchase and I've been looking for buildings and contents insurance.

My main business equipment is covered under our existing contents insurance but most of the insurers I've looked at seem to only cover business equipment at home, not away from home.

So I've been looking at dedicated business policies. I've just got a quote from Direct Line and was astonished by how cheap it was.

I currently pay about £145 for combined public/employers and almost the same again for professional indemnity insurance, both from QDOS.

The Direct Line quote was for £2mil public (double QDOS), £10mil employers, £1500 of office computer equipment (non portable), £500 of other office equipment, plus specifically named portable items (laptop, iPad, phone). It also has £50k loss of income cover and small amounts of cover for other bits and bobs. All for the grand sum of £92 a year.

At some point I was planning to get a garden office building through the company too. I can add £15k of outbuilding cover to the above for an extra £20/year.

Feeling pretty ripped off by QDOS - I don't think I will be renewing with them!

Who do you use, if anyone? That quote seems pretty hard to beat.

Its courses for horses, QDOS are specialist in freelance so their policies around IR35 protection etc will be second to none, Direct Line are generalists who try to offer a service with pass appeal, specialist in variably means paying a little extra.

Think of it as Psychocandy v NLUK, they could probably both do the job, but which would you feel better using?

[vwdan]

I've just renewed with QDOS, but when I first went with them I shopped around the usual places (Hiscoxes etc) and they seemed competitive enough then