I have recently got a client who is a contractor who works through agency for NHS (outside IR35). He is my first contractor client so I need few advices with regards to the expenses his company can claim as below.
Rent - He is from midlands and was in wales on a contract which covered last 4 months of his accounting year, he lived in a rented property and was paying rent. Can this rent be allowable business expense?? He was staying in the property for 5 working days. Will there be any tax issues with this?
Meal - he has given me few receipts of food he has bought whilst he was away on contract, some receipts are for his meals bought from takeaways when he was at work, few shopping receipts from morrisons, lidl , aldi where he has bought fruits, milk, bread, yogurts etc. there are only about 8-10 receipts he has provided for those 4 months. Can i claim all these as meal expenses or should i take the benchmark rate??I was reading upon bench mark rates and it says it could only be used if the contractor is working more than usual hours like starting working early or finishing late. I also came across this - "You can claim actual meal costs whilst you are working at a remote site, away from your normal place of work, or when staying away from home overnight, but daily, round sum claims for meals are not permitted." My client works normal hours so i assume i cannot take Bench mark rates, and if I take actual costs then he has only provided me with few receipts and his actual cost must be more than what he has provided. What should i do in this case?. Are there any tax implications for using bench mark rates?
Use of home as office- Would it be okay to claim £4 pw use of home as office to claim for the whole year??My client used his own home for the first 8 months to work from and then last 4 months of his accounting year he was away from home where he was in rented accommodation. Or shall i only take £4pw for the first 8 months if he can claim the rent he is paying as I dont want to do anything which would trigger the investigation as my client is already in investigation for his previous 2-3 years tax returns which i have no knowledge of yet as still awaiting the authorisation to look into his self-assessment affairs.
I have read some previous posts on contractors on this forum and I know some members have really good understanding of contractors accounting.
Any help / advice in this case would be highly appreciated. Thank You.
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If you have no experience with contractor clients and have to ask so many questions, then I'm not sure taking on a client with 2-3 years' ongoing tax investigations was the best idea.
How do you know the contract is outside IR35? Travel to a temporary workplace is (in brief) allowable if the contract is less than 24 months. Where travel is allowable so is subsistence. I would probably claim the rent, the meals and the use of home, but would want to be watertight on IR35 status, the open enquiries and the exact fact pattern.
Pardon me for being rude Matix , but what it the board for if not to ask advise ?
Well done for taking on a Client as learning never stops.
Absolutely and I provided good advice.
Advising the poster to learn on the job is not so good advice.