Oury Clark Blog » Ian Friend

It’s good to talk

Ian Friend — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:03:36 +0000

An employer provided mobile phone (contract in employer’s name) is tax free, including all calls and line rental. One per employee only!

Money paid towards the employee’s own mobile phone is taxable.

On your bike?

Ian Friend — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:56:20 +0000

You can loan, without a taxable benefit arising, a bicycle and/or cyclist’s safety equipment so long such bicycles and equipment are available generally to employees and the main use of the bicycle is for journeys between home and work or between workplaces.

You can even celebrate and offer a meal or refreshments on a designated “cycle to work” day.

Suggestions please

Ian Friend — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:49:49 +0000

Would you dare ask your staff for suggestions?

You can reward, without a taxable benefit arising, those making sensible suggestions. HMRC provide tax exemption for two types of award:

Encouragement awards – made for a suggestion which has some special merit or reflects priaseworthy effort on the part of the person making the suggestion. The permitted tax free maximum for an encouragement award is £25. Financial Benefit Awards – can only be made following a decision to implement the suggestion, awards must be based upon improvement in efficiency or effectiveness to be achieved and, subject to some financial restrictions, the tax free award cannot exceed £5000.

By the way the sun doesn’t generally shine as much as any of us would like!

Been here long?

Ian Friend — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:11:05 +0000

Long service awards to directors and employees as testamonials to mark long service awards where service is not less than 20 years (and no similar award has been made within the previous 10 years!) are exempt so long as they are:

Tangible articles of reasonable cost, or shares in an employing company (or group company)

Reasonable, in this context, means that it does not exceed £50 for each year of service.

“But Liz, I hear that Tandems are all the rage…”

Having your crispy pancakes and eating them

Ian Friend — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:51:36 +0000

then best to do so abroad!

The cost of necessary medical treatment abroad paid by you as employer, or reimbursed to your staff, is exempt so long as the employee did fall ill or suffer injury whilst away from the United Kingdom in the performance of their duties.

Chop stick injury?

Getting Indigestion?

Ian Friend — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:45:49 +0000

Why not send your employees for a Health Screening Assessment or a medical check-up?

There is no benefit, …..cough Mr Orborne…so long as you only provide a maximum of one health screening assessment and one medical check-up in any year.

This exemption does not cover medical treatment.

So you do want Crispy Duck?

Ian Friend — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:34:06 +0000

Ok so £2 a week won’t pay the bills.

How about £5 per night?

Yes you can pay your staff £5 a night for each night they have to stay away during business journeys anywhere in the UK (no not at their neighbours’!). You can pay £10 for each night away during overseas business journeys.

But don’t be saucey (plum or otherwise) as if you exceed these limits the whole amount becomes taxable!

When Pennies become Pounds!

Ian Friend — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:18:11 +0000

2 is plural isn’t it?

So we are really beginning to take advantage of those concessions now.

So if you require your staff to work from home on a regular basis (not just taking work home in the evenings, sorry!) you can pay them as much as £2 per week tax free without needing your staff to provide evidence of the additional cost. Now you are winning them over!

Those following the earlier posts will now be equating this to as many as 5 family Chinese takeaways per annum now – ok perhaps 4 if you want crispy duck!

In truth you can pay more if there is supporting evidence but you cannot include costs which are already sunk costs – you will be paying your mortgage, domestic rates [...]

I did say Pennies!

Ian Friend — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:55:54 +0000

Just in case you have missed this “opportunity” over the past 40 years or more, Meal vouchers can also be tax free. Must be non-transfereable, only used for meals (makes sense) and again available to all. So reward those staff – oh did I mention that the tax free limit is 15 pence per working day! Perhaps “meal” voucher is a bit strong nowadays but I do recall being given my father’s allocation as a child and being able to buy a bag of chips from the local chippy! We sometime saved them up for a family Chinese Take away evening – not sure how many days that would now take?

Perhaps you can submit ideas for a nourishing meal within the 15 pence limit – [...]

Look after the pennies!

Ian Friend — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 18:42:52 +0000

Or perhaps you were of the Many a Mickle makes a Muckle faith?

Whichever you were weaned on, the message is the same – there are apparent benefits out there that are tax free! Yes, it is true but don’t rub youur hands together too glibly as they will not make you instant millionaires or employer of the year but some times it is still the thought that counts..

One or two perhaps more practical to start with:

Free or Subsidised Meals – so long as the meals are reasonable, avaialble to all staff and made available on the employer’s business premises, or in any canteen where meals are provided for staff generally, then there should be no taxable benefit. One of my own clients, based on an [...]

Taxing Times Ahead

Ian Friend — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:24:28 +0000

With pressure on profits and cash flow, are you getting the right advice to minimise your tax liabilities? Are your advisors proactive or do they simply complete your tax forms?

Whilst corporation tax rates are unchanged for the time being, other taxes are set to increase. There may be action you can take now to reduce your overall tax burden.

Here are just a few things to consider:

With the top rate of income tax increasing to 50% (and to 60% in some instances) with effect from 6th April 2010, have you considered accelerating bonuses or dividend payments. If you have been reporting losses are you sure you have maximised all possible repayments of tax. Trading losses can generally be carried back and set against the profits of [...]

Insurance premiums

Ian Friend — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:00:45 +0000

Another cost you might want to review is that of your insurances. Some policies are based upon the gross sales or turnover of the business or other financial data such as the cost of payroll etc. With your results coming under pressure, the financial numbers used to assess your insurance premiums may well have fallen and you may be able to negotiate lower premiums as a result.

Similarly, the cost of life protection insurance has fallen over the past 10 years and the simple re-broking of policies may reduce costs.

Some brokers may be happy to levy a fee rather than take a commission. This will reduce the amount of insurance premium tax payable.

Lastly, do you know what all those miscellaneous standing orders are for? Are they [...]