Nonetheless, I’ve concluded that if we have staff travelling regularly to the office purely to do their job (and not for a clearly documented temporary purpose) albeit in a different location then any travel payments made will be taxable.
I really appreciate everyone’s here so thanks to all.
Thanks for your reply - it really is appreciated. You can see why, when even reading the guidance, I came away somewhat confused. One thing I hadn't considered was whether even the homeworkers would breach the 24 month rule from day 1 so that is definitely food for thought.
These scenarios will be come more and more common post-covid I imagine.
Thanks for taking the time to reply again David - I'll indeed go back to our accountant and ask which parts of the legislation supports their view vs mine.
In my efforts to be succinct it looks like I've not been clear - sorry! In an ideal world we would pay for their travel via an expense claim (mileage/bus) or via the company travel account (train/plane). I appreciate, if taxable. the tax reporting is different depending on who pays (the employee directly or the company).
I am an accountant but not a tax/BIK expert. We also pay for an external accountant and I have asked this question - the party line is that it's all taxable but I don't feel that's the case in all scenarios. This isn't a matter of not wanting to pay for an expert opinion just that experience tells me some may take a different view on this - I should have made that more clear. Apologies :-)
However, at what point might HMRC look at the underlying notification? I’m hoping that the risk of a) having submitted a typo and b) the HMRC subsequently looking at the notification of grant details is quite negligible and I should just move on?
I’ll try and let it go but I’m a stickler for documentation normally!
My answers
Glad to see such a healthy debate on this! Referring to the legislation has proved really helpful and something I will do more of going forward.
The example here was also interesting - https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim32153 - and I think will apply in some instances here.
Nonetheless, I’ve concluded that if we have staff travelling regularly to the office purely to do their job (and not for a clearly documented temporary purpose) albeit in a different location then any travel payments made will be taxable.
I really appreciate everyone’s here so thanks to all.
Thanks for your reply - it really is appreciated. You can see why, when even reading the guidance, I came away somewhat confused. One thing I hadn't considered was whether even the homeworkers would breach the 24 month rule from day 1 so that is definitely food for thought.
These scenarios will be come more and more common post-covid I imagine.
Thanks for taking the time to reply again David - I'll indeed go back to our accountant and ask which parts of the legislation supports their view vs mine.
In my efforts to be succinct it looks like I've not been clear - sorry! In an ideal world we would pay for their travel via an expense claim (mileage/bus) or via the company travel account (train/plane). I appreciate, if taxable. the tax reporting is different depending on who pays (the employee directly or the company).
I am an accountant but not a tax/BIK expert. We also pay for an external accountant and I have asked this question - the party line is that it's all taxable but I don't feel that's the case in all scenarios. This isn't a matter of not wanting to pay for an expert opinion just that experience tells me some may take a different view on this - I should have made that more clear. Apologies :-)
Thanks anyway. I feared as much.
However, at what point might HMRC look at the underlying notification? I’m hoping that the risk of a) having submitted a typo and b) the HMRC subsequently looking at the notification of grant details is quite negligible and I should just move on?
I’ll try and let it go but I’m a stickler for documentation normally!
It was back in March within the 92 day window for notification. I’m about to submit a nil Annual Return as no further events have happened.
I entered the details directly - no csv file sadly. But yes, I have the HMRC acknowledgement reference.
Thanks for responding but I think you might be answering a different question. No cash involved here!