Travel Expense Claiming - Temporary Workplace or not?

[bonzibuddy142]

I have just started my own limited company and am set with my first contract which is for a duration of 6 months.

The contract states the work location to be in 'Location A'.

I spend 6 hours at Location A twice a week and the remainder of those days plus the remaining days of the week at another of their work offices (Location B).

I am really confused as to whether or not I can claim travel and subsistence costs? I commute by train and it would be a huge help if I could claim the cost back from the company as an expense.

The registered business address is my home address if that makes a difference?

Thanks for the help in advance

[northernladuk]

The registered business address is my home address if that makes a difference?

Well of course it does. Your home is your permanent place of work. Anything else is travelling on business to your client. Pretty straight forward really... Don't forget about the 24 month rule of course.

Plenty of guides out there about claiming T&S expenses that will have clarified for you.
You can also search the forums using the following in google/bing 'travel expenses site:forums.contractoruk.com' (or other keywords)
Your accountant should be on hand to help with stuff like this as well.

[northernladuk]

That said are the client re-reimbursing you for any of the travel between sites or is that your responsibility to get to both sites? What does your contract say?

[mudskipper]

I have just started my own limited company and am set with my first contract which is for a duration of 6 months.

The contract states the work location to be in 'Location A'.

I spend 6 hours at Location A twice a week and the remainder of those days plus the remaining days of the week at another of their work offices (Location B).

I am really confused as to whether or not I can claim travel and subsistence costs? I commute by train and it would be a huge help if I could claim the cost back from the company as an expense.

The registered business address is my home address if that makes a difference?

Thanks for the help in advance

It's not quite clear what you're asking.

If you are not caught by IR35 and expect to be at the location for less that 24 months, then you (the individual) can claim travel expenses from your own limited company.

Whether your company can claim travel expenses from the client depends on what the contract says, or what agreement you have negotiated - it's a B2B arrangement, so there is no 'rule'.

[malvolio]

I should say "Read the Sticky" for the quick answer since that's why I wrote it...

However, for the first 24 months at least, both can count as temporary workplaces, so both are claimable against tax. By the time you need to worry about it, you will probably know the answer and a lot more besides. And you can claim the cost from YourCo regardless, it's actually about can you claim tax relief on personal expenditure*

I suggest you read the guides on this site and download a copy of the Guide to Freelancing from the IPSE website and study that carefully.



*Personally I step around that by having MyCo pick up the bills for such things...

[bonzibuddy142]

That said are the client re-reimbursing you for any of the travel between sites or is that your responsibility to get to both sites? What does your contract say?

No, they won't be reimbursing me. It is my own responsibility.

[bonzibuddy142]

I should say "Read the Sticky" for the quick answer since that's why I wrote it...

However, for the first 24 months at least, both can count as temporary workplaces, so both are claimable against tax. By the time you need to worry about it, you will probably know the answer and a lot more besides. And you can claim the cost from YourCo regardless, it's actually about can you claim tax relief on personal expenditure*

I suggest you read the guides on this site and download a copy of the Guide to Freelancing from the IPSE website and study that carefully.



*Personally I step around that by having MyCo pick up the bills for such things...

Thanks for the reading list - going to head over to read the info now!

My question is essentially about the tax-relief aspect (sorry I didn't make that clear). I thought I had my head wrapped around the rules for claiming travel but then came across the fixed-term appointment rules and got myself confused as to whether that means I wouldn't get tax relief by claiming the travel expenses from MyCo