Content
Reverse Charges
Beyond The Grave
Director's Two Hats
IHT Plan Fails
VAT And Cash
Amnesty International
An Inspector Calls
Losing A Bet
Caring Doctors
TAAR Brush
Made To Be Broken
Flat VAT
Safe Deposit
Tax On Gas
Working Late
Composite Companies
Excuses, Excuses
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If your employer pays the cost of your "normal commuting" - going from home to your permanent workplace - that's taxable as a benefit in kind. There is a useful exception for the extra cost of getting home after occasionally having to work late. There are conditions - the exemption is for a taxi home when the employee has to work after 9pm and it wouldn't be reasonable to expect them to take public transport. It mustn't be their normal finishing time, and it mustn't happen either regularly or frequently. "Regularly" means every week on the same day; "frequently" means more than 60 times a year. Recently a bank tried to claim money back from the Revenue - it had paid the tax on late-night taxis for its employees, and decided that it was entitled to the benefit of the exemption on the first 60 taxis for each employee in a year. The Revenue disagreed: if there were more than 60, they were all taxable. Apparently the Revenue are now looking at other employers to see if other people may be taking the benefit of this misunderstanding - not paying the tax in the first place, rather than claiming it back later. It's a useful exemption, but you can't push it. If you are in doubt about what you can do for your employees without triggering a tax charge, we are here to help.  |