Ltd co managing director (sole director) aims to move abroad, traveling frequently back to the UK to conduct business, and wishes to deduct airfare as well as UK hotel and food costs. All business operations (filming) will take place in the UK, only the residence will change. The number of trips may be around 2-3 per month, each time staying in the UK for up to two weeks maximum, of which 1-4 days will involve actual filming, the rest will be “waiting days” between one shoot and the next, and 1-2 meetings. The question is whether deducting airfare, hotel and food costs is an issue…?
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Is the UK place of business a fixed place such as a studio- or does this "filming" take place allover the place?
If the former, it sounds like home to work travel to me, and that HMRC wouldn't expect the treasury to suffer from his choice of where to live.
There is no studio or fixed place. Filming takes place all over the place, and always somewhere different, usually in London, at times out of town.
The question I think you should be asking is not whether the expenses are "deductible" (by which I assume you mean allowable expenses for corporation tax) but whether, if the company pays them, they are taxable on him as a benefit in kind.
You are correct, I mean allowable expenses. Do you believe these would be taxable to the MD as a benefit in kind?
I can confirm that the company can obtain a deduction for paying its director's personal expenses, provided that his total remuneration (including the said expenses) is not excessive.
Thanks, in your opinion, how might it be determined that the remuneration be "excessive" or fair?
There you are you see. You have a comprehensive answer to the question you asked, but it's not much help is it?
Not really, haha... I guess it's interpretable either way. Perhaps someone knows if there's a "safeguarding" measure I can take to illustrate the validity of this kind of travel expense write off?
You are still missing the point. What you need to address is what the benefit in kind position is.