Business Card used by employee for personal fuel costs

Business Card used by employee for personal...

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Our manager has a company card to purchase diesel and other running costs when he is using the business lorry. He has also over the past few months bought diesel for his own car which is identifiable only by the lower sums to fill his car. I have issued him an invoice for all the diesel purchased and asked him to pay in full. Will this trigger any other issues bearing in mind we have just had an initial visit from the VATman who is due to come back again shortly. Should we be doing anything in respect of BIK.

jane harris

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By AnonymousUser
23rd Sep 2005 17:35

BIK due
Jane,

I believe that income tax is due, if the employee hadn't used the credit card he would have had to pay for the fuel himself. Therefore he has recieved something that is 'moneys worth'. This is therefore taxable under s62 Income tax Earnings and Pensions Act 2003. s62 does not contain a 'made good'provision and therefore it is irrelevant if he has paid the money back or not.

If as is mentioned below the business has given him an interest free loan this would need to be documented to avoid a HMRC challenge

Hope that helps,

Guy

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By AnonymousUser
01st Sep 2005 22:50

reply
no worries it was in the full knowledge of the partners (not a limited company). We are simply trying to regularise any income tax or VAT implications.

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By neileg
31st Aug 2005 13:20

No benefit
If you are recovering all the costs from the employee, then there is no benefit. You might argue there's a cashflow benefit, the employee having had an interest free loan until the sums are repaid, but I assume the amounts are negligible.

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David Winch
By David Winch
01st Sep 2005 11:20

Be careful, Jane!

Jane

I would advise you to be cautious in your choice of words when describing this series of events to the company's auditors / external accountants.

What you describe sounds very much as if the manager charged personal expenses to the company without its permission or knowledge. If this was done by him intentionally with a view to avoiding payment himself then it amounts to theft.

A theft, once committed, is not un-committed by making reimbursement for the amount stolen!

If the company's auditors / external accountants become aware of suspected theft they will be obliged to report the matter to the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) who will in turn pass the information to your local police force.

You may not wish this to happen!

You may also wish to consider the employment law implications. Is the manager to be disciplined for this action? If not, how will the company stand if other employees take similar action in future?

If you are an MLRO you can get confidential one-to-one email support, information and NewsAlerts on proceeds of crime and money laundering issues from my website www.mlrosupport.co.uk.

David
[email protected]

P.S. I assume from a VAT point of view the overall effect is zero (i.e. if you claimed input VAT on the expense you have also charged output VAT on the invoice to the manager).

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