Umbrella refusing to process travel and accommodation expenses

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Your umbrella company is behaving correctly. What's not clear is whether or not you are intending to leave their employment - if your not then let them know and there shouldn't be an issue

[SueEllen]

This is the third contract I have done in a row with the umbrella, each one with a different company in a different location in the UK

Then why have they said you have given them notice?

If you asked a permanent employer for your P45 they it would count as you giving them notice. This is exactly what you have done with the umbrella company.

If you intend to stay with them then you do not need your P45 all you need is the payslips they have sent you to sort out your tax affairs. So I suggest you keep all your payslips in future until you get your P60 for that year and you have confirmed it tallies with your payslips. Then keep your P60 for as long as possible as it's proof of income and tax paid.

I suggest you contact the umbrella company and tell them you are not leaving them immediately.

[vonspurter]

You need to do more than one contract with an umbrella for each workplace to count as a temporary location. I suggest you stay with them for a couple more contracts.

This is the third contract I have done in a row with the umbrella, each one with a different company in a different location in the UK

[SueEllen]

You need to do more than one contract with an umbrella for each workplace to count as a temporary location. I suggest you stay with them for a couple more contracts.

[Fred Bloggs]

The umbrella is correct, AFAICS.

[vonspurter]

First of all, I apologise for this being a long post but not being an accountant I feel I need to give all the info I can.

I began a short term contract at the end of June this year and ended yesterday (23rd Sept.) For the past 2 months I have been travelling to London by train from the North West on a weekly basis, staying in a B&B throughout the week and logging my expenses weekly with the Umbrella online portal. To process these however I was advised that I would need to send hard copies of my train tickets and accommodation receipts. This I did yesterday but I have been advised today that they will not process any of them for this reason below:

As we have been made aware that your last working day is 23rd September 2015, HMRC automatically deems your client site your permanent place of work from the point you have given us notice.
As we are aware that it is your intention to leave our services we are unable to offset any further expense claims from future payments despite the expenses being purchased before the last working day. This is known as the fixed term appointment rule.
Please see attached travel allowances and expenses guidelines for reference to the fixed term appointment rule. Unfortunately we have to abide by the ruling to remain compliant with HMRC’s current legislation.

I can confirm that although we are unable to offset an expense claims, you are able to reclaim the taxable benefit of these expenses by completing a P87 form at the end of the tax year (5th of April 2016).

This has never happened to me before and I've been with the same Umbrella for 2 years over 3 separate contracts. In short they have said instead of asking for my P45, if I stay with them they will process my expenses when I obtain another contract - is this BS or what?