Hi All, now that all the tax returns are done it's back to the real work
Was filing my last one on Saturday, including doing the bookkeeping for it, and the lad concerned had put quite a few coffee receipts in, which I rejected. The reason I rejected them is because they were all bought at the train station in the town he lives, just before he caught the train to wherever he was going (legitimate journeys)
And it got me thinking, are there any hard and fast rules as to when you can claim it eg do you have to be a certain distance away from home before it kicks in. I've had a look at BIM47705 and BIM37670 but they don't specify how far away, although there is some mention of a Civil Service 5 mile guide on an accountingweb discussion on this topic.
I wouldn't have allowed the coffee either, John.. as its part of his routine, not a special trip. I try to counter this by putting through £2 a week for brews and loo roll where someone's office is at home - that might be a safer way to get a little tax relief without going overboard? Although, you could allow for coffee bought at the other side of his journey - again if it wasn't every day
-- Edited by FoxAccountancyServices on Monday 2nd of February 2015 01:08:47 PM
Yes there was one bought at the other end of one of the journeys and I allowed that. The tax element in this case wasn't important as he was well under the threshold anyway.
Regarding the £2 a week for brews and loo roll, is that in addition to work from home allowance or instead of?
I do this in addition to "use of home". I calculate UOH on utilities, and so add that little extra for sundries, that would be allowable in a normal office. Some might question whether drinking coffee at home all day while working is allowable, but I personally feel there's a good argument for a small allowance, and HMRC are unlikely to impose a penalty even if they didn't like it, due to such a small amount of tax saving.
