advice re: 2 year rule

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Could we hire a box? Champagne, opera glasses, we could all dress up - make a night of it - what do you reckon?

[northernladuk]

Could we hire a box? Champagne, opera glasses, we could all dress up - make a night of it - what do you reckon?

Can we claim it as a business expense?

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Can we claim it as a business expense?

between a contractor and HMR&C? Sure we could put together a good case

Yeah no we couldn't

[cojak]

From this one: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/490.pdf

Example
Eloise, a computer consultant, is the only employee of a company which she controls.
She is a specialist in banking systems.
She spends 18 months working full-time at the headquarters of a merchant bank in
Lombard Street in the City of London. She then moves next door to design a new
computer system for a different bank where she expects to stay working full-time for
22 months.
After that assignment she moves to work at a bank close by on Cheapside for
17 months.
Eloise is not entitled to tax relief for her travel from home to these workplaces,
because the nature of her work is such that she expects to work continuously in the
'Square Mile' albeit on the premises of different banks. So her travel from home to
work will be broadly the same every day, year in year out (see paragraph 4.6).


So how do they define 'Square Mile'? Does that mean literally a square mile?
Sounds a bit arbitrary to me.

However, there are banks in other places, for instance the bank of america is in croydon.

lithium147 - if you do not know enough about UK business to understand this I do not expect you to offer advice to others on the professional forums.

Be aware that I will remove any incorrect or dumb advice from you from now on.

[lithium147]

The actual word within the 24 month rule is "significant" - unless the journey distance and time is "significantly" different the 24 month rule will apply - the square mile is just an illustrative example

HTH

Oh really, that means the whole London could be covered in that.

Also, if its journey time, how about moving home/office? Does that affect the 24 month rule?

[NotAllThere]

hello there - this is my first post

i am fairly new to contracting and i am contracting through an Umbrella company

i began my current contract in Jan 2011 and this was my 1st contract position since leaving a perm job (with a different company - based in Liverpool actually)

the company i am contracting for has just extended my current contract (without a pay rise i might add - no pay rise at all since i started...) which means i will now exceed the 2 year 'temporary' workplace rule and thereby preventing me claiming back any further expenses

Important. If you have a contract through a brolly and it turns out to be the ONLY contract you have through that brolly, you might find that ALL T&S expenses will be not claimable, as HMRC will view that as a permanent position.

I.e. if you work through a brolly (or a ltd co.) make sure you do at least two contracts before changing vehicle.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Oh really, that means the whole London could be covered in that.

Also, if its journey time, how about moving home/office? Does that affect the 24 month rule?

Yes it could cover the whole of London - you could have one contract on one side and another on the other side but your journey time to both is an hour and the distance is similar then the 24 month rule will apply.

With regard to moving house - really????? Just to avoid the 24 month rule????