not another 24-month rule question

[RSoles]

Thought we'd done this one to death by now, but can't find an answer to this one.

In calculating whether I can go back to a location I have a spreadsheet which monitors where I've worked week-by-week.
This allows me to check whether I've got below the trailing 40% and can potentially start claiming travel etc. for a new contract.

Last year I had a gap of two months inside a contract, so I had a, say, six month contract with a two-month gap in the middle.

Now should I count this as six months at the client's location or count it as week by week ( which I've been doing).
I didn't work from home in the time I was away.

RS

[malvolio]

Thought we'd done this one to death by now, but can't find an answer to this one.

In calculating whether I can go back to a location I have a spreadsheet which monitors where I've worked week-by-week.
This allows me to check whether I've got below the trailing 40% and can potentially start claiming travel etc. for a new contract.

Last year I had a gap of two months inside a contract, so I had a, say, six month contract with a two-month gap in the middle.

Now should I count this as six months at the client's location or count it as week by week ( which I've been doing).
I didn't work from home in the time I was away.

RS

Count it week by week.

[northernladuk]

Nice to see you are taking is so seriously. Just out of interest what locations are we talking here, distance between etc?

[RSoles]

Just the usual, Glasgow, Belfast, Edinburgh, Szombathely.

[Tonylanda]

Same area, New client and contract

What happens if you reach or nearly reach the 24 months and then you get another client in another London area...?

[TheFaQQer]

What happens if you reach or nearly reach the 24 months and then you get another client in another London area...?

Is the journey materially different from the one you are currently making? If so, then reset the clock. If not, then stop claiming expenses as soon as you know you will be in the same location for over 24 months.

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

What happens if you reach or nearly reach the 24 months and then you get another client in another London area...?

A much debated point on this forum - HMR&C define the distance between sites as needing to be 'significant' to re-set 24 month rule; trouble is they don't define significant. One for common sense really - if journey time on London contract 1 is 20 minutes and London contract 2 is 23 minutes there is not a significant difference in travelling time even if the two locations are in opposite directions

[Clare@InTouch]

What happens if you reach or nearly reach the 24 months and then you get another client in another London area...?

There's a thread on this recently - search for HMRC Audit Going Badly.

The HMRC website say:

A computer consultant is the only employee of a company that she controls. She is a specialist in banking systems. She spends 18 months working full-time at the headquarters of a merchant bank in Lombard Street in the City of London. She then moves next door to design a new computer system for a different bank where she expects to stay working full-time for 22 months. After that assignment she moves to a bank close by on Cheapside for 17 months. The employee expects to work continuously in the City of London albeit on the premises of different banks. Her travel from home to work will be broadly the same every day. No deduction is due for the cost of travel between her home and any of these workplaces.

Travel expenses: travel for necessary attendance: definitions: temporary workplace: example