LIMITED COMPANY BUSINESS EXPENSES

Car, van and travel expenses as a limited company

Your travel expenses are generally tax-deductible where all the following conditions apply:

1. You are responsible for paying the travel costs

2. The travel you are undertaking is necessary for your work, i.e. your attendance at the place you are travelling to is mandatory

3. The travel should not be ‘ordinary commuting’. HMRC defines a commute as the journey you make between your home and your permanent workplace.

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You can claim allowable business expenses for:

• vehicle insurance

• repairs and servicing

• fuel

• parking

• hire charges

• vehicle licence fees

• breakdown cover

• train, bus, air and taxi fares

• hotel rooms

• meals on overnight business trips

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You can’t claim for:

• non-business driving or travel costs

• fines

• travel between home and work

 

Accommodation costs and expenses whilst on business travel 

You can claim expenses for accommodation costs when you travel to a temporary workspace or location for business-related purposes, providing the expense is reasonable and not excessive. HMRC will likely question any excessive claims for expensive hotels or apartments with more than one bedroom. So staying at The Shard is probably not going to be acceptable!

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Accountancy fee expenses for limited companies

You can claim tax relief for the full cost of your limited company’s accountancy fees, providing the accountants’ time is spent working wholly on your company’s affairs.

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Advertising and marketing

Generating leads and advertising is an important part of running a successful business. You need to make sure that your potential customers know about your products or services, which is where advertising and marketing comes in. This may be a one-off cost or an ongoing charge and as long as the service is exclusively for your business then the cost could be classed as an expense.

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Bank, credit card and other financial charges

Many types of bank charges can be claimed as an allowable business expense, though they must be for accounts or cards in the name of the business. You can claim business costs for:

• bank, overdraft and credit card charges the interest on business and bank loans (but not repayments of the capital or loan amount)

• hire purchase interest

• leasing payments

• alternative finance payments, for example, Islamic finance.

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You cannot claim for repayments of personal loans, overdrafts or finance arrangements.

 

Business Insurance policies

You can claim for any insurance policy for your business, for example, professional indemnity insurance or public liability insurance.

 

Charitable donations as a limited company

Your limited company pays less Corporation Tax when it gives to registered UK charities. You can claim tax relief by deducting the value of your donations from your total business profits before you pay tax.

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Childcare costs and expenses

HMRC does not allow childcare as a legitimate business expense

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Christmas party and staff event expenses through your limited company

Your company can host an annual event – most commonly a Christmas party, as a tax-free benefit, providing you meet certain conditions.

 

Your employees may invite a partner but you must not exceed an expenditure of 150 per head (including VAT). The event must cater mostly for staff. For example, expenses for one director and a plus one would be acceptable and would give you a budget of 300. However, if those attending are not mostly employees then it would be difficult to argue the event’s main purpose is to entertain staff. Note that the 150 amount is an annual limit and can cover multiple events for staff.

 

Entertainment expenses

With certain, limited exceptions, expenditure on business entertainment or gifts is not allowable as a deduction against profits, even if it is a genuine expense of your trade or business. Tax relief is therefore not available. If you’ve incurred the cost of business entertaining personally you may be able to claim the expense as being incurred in the performance of your duties as a director. These costs would be disallowed in the company profits, so the net effect would be the same as not claiming the expenses in the first place.

 

Equipment expenses for your limited company

The cost of anything that’s necessary and essential for your duties as a director will receive tax relief. This covers computer equipment, printers, and software. You may also claim reasonable relief towards the cost of equipping/furnishing an office, e.g. chairs, bookcases and so on.

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This may appear to hold a dual purpose, but it’s allowed because it is a consequence of a business need. As long as the personal use is insignificant it will not be treated as a ‘benefit in kind’ and you won’t have to pay personal tax on it.

 

Eye tests and glasses or spectacles

You can claim for vision tests providing it’s necessary for the initial or continued use of visual display equipment in your duties. However, you aren’t able to claim for glasses or contact lenses unless they’re prescribed during your time at work, specifically for ‘monitor or screen work’.

 

Computers and other fixed assets

As long as they’re entirely purchased for business use, items such as laptops, PCs, business phones and furniture can be recorded as a business fixed asset. If the asset is obsolete or no longer used by your business, you may decide to dispose of it. Whether you continue to use a fixed asset, sell old models or scrap them, HMRC will need to know in order to ensure it’s correctly accounted for each year.

 

General office costs and purchases for your limited company 

Minor purchases with receipts that are used wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of your duties are claimable. This includes postage, computer consumables, and office stationery.

 

Gifts and trivial benefits from your limited company

You don’t have to pay tax on a gift or benefit for your employee if all of the following apply:

• it cost you 50 or less to provide

• it isn’t cash or a cash voucher

• it isn’t a reward for their work or performance

• it isn’t in the terms of their contract.

• This is known as a ‘trivial benefit’. You don’t need to pay tax or National Insurance or let HMRC know.

 

You have to pay tax on any gifts or benefits that don’t meet all these criteria.

 

Legal and other professional fees

As long as they are directly related to your business, legal fees and other professional fees are allowable.

 

Medical insurance (Healthcare) expenses through your limited company

Your company may provide financial support towards medical insurance for employees. This is regarded as a ‘benefit in kind’ and the employee must pay personal tax on it. Your company will be liable to National Insurance Contributions at 13.8% (for the 2020/21 tax year).

 

Your company can provide the following and claim tax relief:

• medical insurance for an employee working abroad

• an annual check-up

 

Mobile phone, landline and broadband expenses as a limited company

If your landline phone contract is only for business use, this is an allowable company expense and you won’t be taxed personally. By having a separate phone line for ‘only business’, it shows this is 100% for business. For mobile phones, provided the contract is between the company and the mobile phone provider, the company can claim all costs as an allowable expense.

 

If your company pays your entire personal phone bill, you’ll have to pay a ‘benefit in kind’ (BIK) charge on the total amount of the bill, and your company will pay National Insurance Contributions at 13.8% (for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 tax years) on the same amount (minus the cost of any business calls you can identify). If you make a claim for business only calls made on your personal mobile or landline phone bill, this is an allowable expense provided you can prove it was a business call. You can also reclaim the VAT element of the business calls (if you‘re VAT registered), but you won’t be able to reclaim any part of the line rental, as you would incur this cost anyway.

 

Broadband

If you start to carry out some of your work from home, using your residential broadband, you cannot make a claim if the broadband was already in place, unless you can clearly split the business from the personal element. Having two broadband lines could show one line is 100% for business.

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If you have no broadband contract at home and need internet access to carry out your business, the costs can be reclaimed from your company, and no ‘benefit in kind’ charge arises.

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Pension payments through your limited company

Once your company has set up a contract with a pension provider it can make payments into your pension and receive 100% tax relief as an allowable business expense. In the 2019/20 and 2020/21 tax years, there’s a limit of  40,000 on how much you can contribute free of tax to a pension scheme either through your company or personally.

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Professional subscriptions

Professional subscriptions such as membership of a trade body, or registrations needed in order to enable you to trade are allowable, provided they are HMRC approved professional bodies which are relevant to your employment. If it is not directly relevant, then it’s not allowed. Membership of your local golf club or gym is not going to be allowed no matter how much you think it may help your business!

 

Salaries

A salary paid to you as an employee or as the director of your company is regarded as an allowable expense, as are any National Insurance Contributions (NICs). You may pay a tax-efficient salary up to the relevant National Insurance threshold, i.e. before you become liable to start paying NICs. You’ll be more tax-efficient by paying a lower monthly salary, because after you cross the relevant NI threshold you’ll have to begin paying NICs.

 

Travel and subsistence expenses as a limited company

If you have to travel for your work you may be able to claim tax relief on the cost or money you’ve spent on food or overnight expenses. You can claim tax relief for money you’ve spent on things like:

public transport costs

• hotel accommodation if you have to stay overnight food and drink

• congestion charges and tolls

• parking fees

• business phone calls and printing costs.

 

You can’t claim for travelling to and from work, unless you’re travelling to a temporary place of work.

 

Training expenses through your limited company

You can claim for training courses that are aimed at improving the skills you apply in your work. Additionally, you can claim travel and accommodation while attending a training course. HMRC often disallow expenses for courses such as MBAs, as they offer new skills and knowledge rather than building on existing skills. In certain situations, they are allowed, but only if you demonstrate that they are reinforcing/improving your existing knowledge/skills.

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Use of your home as an office when you’re a limited company

Working through a limited company means if you work from home, from April 2020, HMRC allows you to claim £6 each week without keeping any detailed records – this equates to  £312 per year. The other good news is that HMRC doesn’t believe this to be a benefit in kind, which means you won’t have any tax to pay on this through your Self Assessment. As always, there are rules: you must be able to prove that you regularly spend time doing your job in this office space, so you can’t just use your home office for a small bit of administration while the majority of your work is done on-site or at client offices.

Renting your office to your business

You might be able to rent your personal workspace in your home to your limited company and claim that as an expense. You’ll need to declare these earnings on your Self Assessment, so they’ll be subject to further taxes after you’ve deducted your expenses. HMRC requires you to:

• own the property

• make sure any amount over  208 per annum is classified as rental expenses

• create a rental agreement between yourself and your limited company

• make sure that the rental agreement states that the rent is specifically for use

of the office at certain times of the day, and nowhere else within your house is used

• make sure the rent you set is reasonable.

 

HMRC rules are complex in this area and they expect any calculation to be ‘fair and reasonable’. You should speak to us on 01332 492101 before preparing a rental agreement between you and your company.

 

Please call us on 01332 492101 or email us at info@kariaacocuntants.com to discuss your matters in more detail.