Reply to: Have you written to your MP yet?

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Its nice to know that all our MP's benefit from travel and subsistence expenses way more than any of us do yet they fail to appreciate that we have to work away from home just like they do! The big difference being that for 6 months that could be London and then the next 6 months could be Edinburgh

Made this very point to them in our T&S submission:

"During the 2014-15 session the House of Commons sat for 133 days; if you exclude holidays (34 days) and the summer recess (35 days) this means that MP’s should have been in attendance for 133 days from a possible 191 days.[Source:Hansard] This would appear to meet the definition of a permanent workplace and yet MP’s home to Westminster (Work) travel will not be affected by this proposed change in legislation; so much for a ‘level’ playing field!"

[BoredBloke]

Its nice to know that all our MP's benefit from travel and subsistence expenses way more than any of us do yet they fail to appreciate that we have to work away from home just like they do! The big difference being that for 6 months that could be London and then the next 6 months could be Edinburgh

[Zero Liability]

Just curious if anyone has tried Douglas Carswell or Steve Baker, who are likely to be ideologically against these measures to begin with? I would think on that basis that they're less likely to trot out the same standardised nonsense, providing that they reply.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I have written to our local politician (and went to see him in Westminster), George Osborne, David Gauke several times and Lord Feldman several times - if you do get a response it's something generic from one of the HMRC bods but, for the most part, you get squat

[SueEllen]

+1

Lunchtime meals shouldn't be claimable either - I don't buy the packed lunch argument.

They know you can always make a packed lunch in a hotel and that all offices are near supermarkets.....

[Zero Liability]

I'm with them on stopping normal commuting being paid before tax. But it's not normal commuting to get up at 4:30 on a monday, travel a couple of hundred miles, staying in a hotel 4 nights of the week and then travel back. Its also not feasible to expect a contractor to uproot his/her family each time the temporary workplace shifts.

I think if you can reasonably anticipate a project going on for more than a few months, and simply rent, are relatively unattached and have few furnishings to move, it can work out cost-effective to move. However, it is a risk, as the client could always bin you well before, for whatever reason, and in the end commuting and subsistence are, IMO, costs of working, so to me they should remain tax-deductible expenses. The current 24 month rule is one of the less moronic things the govt has concocted in this respect.

[Acme Thunderer]

I got a response from mine. Some guff about accepting LtdCo is needed for some people but the need to tackle TMI etc. Ran along the lines wait for the consultation to conclude

I do however have an appointment to see my MP but not until the end of Nov!

Need to impress upon them that the noises coming from the discussion/consultation doesn't look good.

May achieve nothing but at least I will have tried.

[LondonManc]

I'm with them on stopping normal commuting being paid before tax. But it's not normal commuting to get up at 4:30 on a monday, travel a couple of hundred miles, staying in a hotel 4 nights of the week and then travel back. Its also not feasible to expect a contractor to uproot his/her family each time the temporary workplace shifts.

+1

Lunchtime meals shouldn't be claimable either - I don't buy the packed lunch argument.

[BoredBloke]

Got standard reply from treasury which ended along the lines of - we need to sort out the deficit.

Which means they refuse to understand the fact that people working around the country sort out regional skills shortages.

They aim to stop "normal commuting" being paid before tax.

I'm with them on stopping normal commuting being paid before tax. But it's not normal commuting to get up at 4:30 on a monday, travel a couple of hundred miles, staying in a hotel 4 nights of the week and then travel back. Its also not feasible to expect a contractor to uproot his/her family each time the temporary workplace shifts.

[SueEllen]

Got standard reply from treasury which ended along the lines of - we need to sort out the deficit.

Which means they refuse to understand the fact that people working around the country sort out regional skills shortages.

They aim to stop "normal commuting" being paid before tax.

[SueEllen]

Still now't from mine.

You may have to remind them.

[Acme Thunderer]

Got an e-mail today with an appointment to go and see mine, but I can't make it

Will ask for a different time instead

Ironically I think this is from the email asking to see her when this first started kicking off in July

[mudskipper]

Still now't from mine.

[TheFaQQer]

Still no reply from mine.

How long should I wait before I start getting stroppy.

Mine is back in London because she spoke in the HoC twice this week - so she's there and should have seen the letter.

I'll leave it until middle of next week and then give her a ring.

[DamianLeon]

See this link

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitio...trepreneurship