Problematic flights to conference and expenses

[VillageContractor]

Wow, a lot of skepticism! I actually just visited this city while on holiday in July. It's very small and while pretty, I did enough sightseeing.

There are connecting flights but there are two issues. First, the one good deal I found is on an airline I hadn't heard of and the equipment being used for the flights is quite old. Second, the other flights are longer and they are more expensive. Neither of these issues are insurmountable but this is why I asked. It's a matter of comfort and convenience.

The plan would be to work from the hotel during the day. The reason for using a different hotel is that it saves the company money because it's cheaper and if I change the existing reservation, the price will go up. Again, the city is small so the hotels are very close to each other.

I assume when you're not doing business activities, for example, at night, you can walk around the city? I don't mean expensing anything but I'm assuming when the conference isn't in session or I'm not working, I don't need to be shut up in the hotel room?

Finally, my accountant has been missing for the last two weeks so I signed up for this forum, but that is another matter.

Thanks!

Where and why is the conference being held in the middle of nowhere

[northernladuk]

Where and why is the conference being held in the middle of nowhere

I wonder that but on a side note I notice the Adult Entertainment Expo is on in Vegas 18 to 21st Nov 2017 and I don't believe there is a suitable flight home until the 27th. I'm sure there will be plenty of work to do in my room after that so time to get the Business Visa out me thinks.

[PerfectStorm]

I like the excuse of not wanting to fly with an airline you haven't heard of before. They're not going to make you sit on the wing you know.

[GillsMan]

I like the excuse of not wanting to fly with an airline you haven't heard of before. They're not going to make you sit on the wing you know.

Hahaha, but if the choice is a connecting flight, maybe he's wary about missing the second leg of the flight?

Personally, I hate connecting flights or trains, and will always choose direct options for both where possible. Occasionally, that might mean a slightly more expensive train journey (or flight for that matter) but I've spend enough time missing connections that I'd rather go on one flight/train.

[WTFH]

Not enough facts to make an informed decision.
I'd not heard of Safarilink airline before I booked with them. They were OK. Name the location and the airline - maybe some of us have experience that might help.

[concord]

Thank you all for your advice and/or comments.

I suppose I'll need to choose one of the connecting flights and travel Tuesday to Saturday rather than Monday to Sunday. The direct flights are unfortunatley on M/W/F/Su and while I could justify working on Tuesday I wouldn't want to work on Saturday. I'll just choose a different airline.

More important is this document someone posted above: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-man...anual/eim31960

I always thought conferences were fine but according to that page "it needs to be demonstrated that attendance was necessary to carry out the duties of the employment of the person attending."

Does anyone know more about this? Does anyone else go to conferences and expense them?

Thank you.

[northernladuk]

Lets cut to the chase. What conference is it? This is exactly why we are skeptical. Information just slowly trickles out and it's really annoying.

[Yorkie62]

[QUOTE=concord;2300370]

More important is this document someone posted above: https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-man...anual/eim31960

I always thought conferences were fine but according to that page "it needs to be demonstrated that attendance was necessary to carry out the duties of the employment of the person attending."
/QUOTE]

Personally I don't see what the problem with attending conferences is under these rules. As a systems engineering consultant and a member of INCOSE, and someone who has a seat on one of the INCOSE UK working groups I attend both conferences and working group meeting's as a business expense. It about keeping you skills upto date in the particular sector you work in and comes under the general umbrella of training.
However I suspect that HMRC might take a differect view point if I were to try to claim attendance at the Adult Entertainment conference NLUK eluded too. Unless of course I could prove that my next gig might be in that industry sector.

As long as it is pertanent to the sector you work in there should be no problems.

Of course there has to be the usual caveats. Can your Ltd Co afford this as an expense, etc.

[concord]

I'm not anticipating any issues but those documents are interesting.

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-man...nual/eim31960: "Expenditure incurred by an employee to improve his or her qualifications for doing the job, or to keep his or her knowledge up to date, are not deductible"

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-man...nual/eim31990: "The neurologist’s employer encourages her to attend and the conference is directly relevant to her work. ... No deduction can be permitted for the cost of attending the conference. Attendance at the conference is not necessary expenditure"

To be honest, I'm not 100% what those documents are. They are marked "internal". The way I see it is that I'm the director and I decide what the duties are, and they are in line with what promotes the long term success of the business.

[Darren at Fox-Bartfield]

Training Costs

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-man...nual/eim31960: "Expenditure incurred by an employee to improve his or her qualifications for doing the job, or to keep his or her knowledge up to date, are not deductible"

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-man...nual/eim31990: "The neurologist’s employer encourages her to attend and the conference is directly relevant to her work. ... No deduction can be permitted for the cost of attending the conference. Attendance at the conference is not necessary expenditure"

To be honest, I'm not 100% what those documents are. They are marked "internal". The way I see it is that I'm the director and I decide what the duties are, and they are in line with what promotes the long term success of the business.

We did a newsletter article on training costs a couple of months ago (link) that may be of interest following a tribunal case.