Renting Accomodation and claiming expenses.

[morphman]

Hi

I am a first time contractor and have not been able to find enough information regarding renting accomodatin and claiming back as expenses.

All I have found so far is that unless you only rent for 5 days a week, you cant claim rental costs. Is this true, and how on earth do you find someone to rent porperty to you on a 5-day basis?

Can you just claim 5/7ths of the total rent?

What about other bills such as elec, gas, water, sky, cable, internet..?

My contract is a long way from home, so its neccessary to rent another porperty to live in during the week, and its cheaper than staying in a hotel...

Any help appreciated.

[Bradley]

Re: Accommodation

The Revenue let you claim the cost of weekend stays in rented accommodation (subject to the usual 24 month etc rules) even if you're not working over the weekend. The Revenue will let you claim the cost as long as the use is incidental to the main use. There's something about it in one of the Revenue Manuals.

Remember, however. that this is concessionary i.e. they don't have to stick to it, but it's unusual not to get it.

[partimer]

Re: Accommodation

>The Revenue let you claim the cost of weekend stays in rented accommodation
>(subject to the usual 24 month etc rules) even if you're not working over the weekend


Eh, I think you would have a hard time trying to convince an IR inspector that the weekend you spent with the Mrs at the Lake District (or even London), was really business related ...

Back to the original question, use common sense when claiming expenses. It all has to be business related. Renting a place will usually be long term and trying to be IR35 friendly isn't as easy.

Just my opinions.

[Bradley]

Re:Accommodation

I was talking about accommodation near to the contract site, of course, and like I said the treatment is confirmed in the Revenue's guidance notes.

Renting a place will usually be long term and trying to be IR35 friendly isn't as easy

The length you rent temporary accommodation should not have any bearing whatsovever on your IR35 status. At the end of the day it's meant to be temporary and implies a move back to your permanent accommodation.

[Contractorumbrella]

Hi Morphman,

You can claim the cost for renting if you are still maintaining a propery elsewhere and are receiving no income from it. You can claim for council tax but you cannot claim for utility bills as those costs will correspondingly reduce in your main property as you will not be there.

Hope this helps.

[partimer]

Agree with Bradley and Co. above.
I badly phrased what I was thinking.

I was thinking that when you rent you're either on 6 months or 12 months rental contract. If you're being on site for 13 months and then sign a 12 months contract this takes you above the 24 months and hence at that point you can't claim (it's at the point of when you know you're hitting the 24 months limit)

The other point I was thinking of was the IR35. I can't remember and somebody correct me, but if you're inside then it's going to come out of the 5 percent business allowance. Considering how much rent is, I'll be surprised if the 5 percent is going to be enough.

Hope this clears up what I was thinking of.

[morphman]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Would I rent the flat via my limited company, or rent it in my personal name, and claim expenses back from the company account?

Also, can you confirm that its just Rent and Council tax that I can claim?

[BillHicksRIP]

I've recently switched umbrellas. The old one made no mention of being able to claim for rental accomodation. I'm caught be IR35, and inside the 2 year maximum. The new umbrella made mention that I'd be able to claim it, but I assumed this was just spiel to get me to sign up with them. I tried searching through the mire of the IR website, but couldn't find anthing directly related to the situation. Would like something concrete before I try and claim for it.

[zeitghost]

I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that the chap I worked with who had a company caravan had the right idea.

All he was paying for was the plot on the caravan site & services, which came to a lot less than £40/night in some poxy hotel.

He was taxed on a benefit in kind when it was used for family holidays though....

[rebeccaloos]

And what about monthly travelcard?

Since moving to London, I obviously do not drive to work any more, and so do not claim my 40p a mile car journey to work (as non-billable travel expenses) to the IR.

But can I claim that part of my travelcard usage is for work purposes, and therefore can I claim back the cost (or part thereof) of my monthly travelcard against tax?

what's the experience of London-based contractors?

Thank you