Ltd company and tutition fees

I would guess that you'd be OK doing this as I suspect that reasonable expenditure on education will not be questioned by the IR. Apart from anything else the education could be claimed to be 'speculative' in order for the Ltd. company to explore new areas of business.

I used to be a computer contractor working through my own Ltd. company, I am now a permie (fortunately!) but my wife uses the same Ltd. company for her own freelance work (quite unrelated to computers). We have put quite a miscellany of training courses etc. through the company and nothing has ever been queried. All of the courses have had some relevance to our work but in some cases the link has been somewhat tenuous.

£1200 is very little to spend on education in this day and age, it's not going to be very noticeable.

Glad to hear that. I was hoping to use money from my company's account to pay for MCSE exams. :)

You could say the same about holidaying in the Caribbean or a night at The Playboy Club.

Why "fortunately"? Most people find PAYE the most tax-inefficient means of being paid.

"Nothing has been queried". But you are self-assessing aren't you? Don't you mean, "Nothing has been looked at"?

Surely then, when it eventually *is* looked at it might be disallowed?

Depending on turnover and profits. They need a giggle in ukba so I've crossposted it. In my opinion (which isn't worth very much) there are two questions to consider:

1) Is the £1,200 allowable to be set against Corporation Tax in the Company's CT return? 2) Is the £1,200 assessable on the director/employee under PAYE/NIC or as a P11D Benefit in Kind.

The OP doesn't say what his trade is or what his Uni Course is. Surely very, very few combinations of Company vs Course are going to slip though without the taxman having his nibble?

ah so you have worked for one of the big consultancies then?

I don't think you have been introduced to troll?

... but you could hardly claim they're educational whereas university fees are almost indisputably eduational.

Because the computer contracting world is *not* a good place to try and earn a living just at the moment. We haven't lost the benefits of having a Ltd. company because my wife still works through it, her work is such that IR35 etc. are most definitely not an issue.

We've been a Ltd. company for just on 20 years now, some of that is beyond the reach of even the IR I believe. I (mostly) trust my accountant and he has always found the training costs we claim to be reasonable.

As I said I think some of it is too far back for even the IR to be allowed to look at it.

It's not "set against" Corporation Tax, it's simply a legitimate expense for the business in the same way as expenditure on phone bills, stationery, etc.

Why on earth would it be? You don't get anything like this when your (big?) company sends you on a course.

I disagree totally with this. If the course has absolutely nothing at all to do with the business then you might be pushing your luch but I still reckon that an amount like £1200 will simply be ignored. The IR have 'typical' amounts they expect to see spent on this type of expense and, as long as you don't exceed them, you are *very* unlikely to be investigated.

Hey Dopey, Peter thinks you're Lancastrian. I think you and Betr Spel Cech are Wancastrians. But I have to say your infectious cheerfulness leads me to suppose that you are a Wigan supporter rather than Accrington Stanley or Liverpool.

Da da da da Da da daa da da

["Strangers on the Shores", Ackers Bilk]

I believe that the above is wrong

AIUI the company may pay (without generating a taxable charge) for the employee to attend a course which provides the recipient with a specific skill to do a current piece of available work.

They may not pay (without generating a taxable charge) for an employee to gain a generic skill which simply enables them to better market themselves to do types of work that they are currently unable to do (comercially).

tim

But if you are investigated at random then HMRC will not ignore it.

On what do you base this opinion?

Wot my accountant told me when we discussed this. I have since seen it written in some Tax advice liturature but can't give you a reference.

You really cannot rely upon something that was 'ok' 20 years ago as to what the revenue will allow now. They have clamped down considerably on things that used to be 'normally' ignored.

tim

You could say the same about holidaying in the Caribbean or a night at The Playboy Club.

And MP's often do

Yes, you own limited company is allowed to pay the fees if you give it permission to.

However, I don't think that is the question you are really asking. The question I think you are really asking is whether or not the company will get tax relief for doing so, and whether or not you would be taxed on the benefit received.

Peter, provided you are careful and don't drop heavy hints in places where Tax Inspectors like Simon lurk, the chances of anyone being able to track you down to Newbourn - a little village in the South of Suffolk, sort of midway between Ipswich, Woodbridge and Felixstowe - are not high.

If they find a Peter there they will have got the wrong person! :-)

It's rather difficult for a Ltd. company to remain anonymous.

Have I seen this somewhere else in this thread? :-)

Depends where your board meetings are held. How many days can they last for?

It's down to people being reasonable.

I knew someone who'd go on holiday and then want to claim the holiday against tax because he spoke to a few businesses about buying his goods for a few minutes.

Many people arrange business meetings and find time to enjoy the local life as well. Another client set up an operation in India and found time to do other things but I'm sure it was a reasonable business expense as he spent quite a lot of time on business.

That's a bit Umpty !

My company paid for two secretaries to go on a Telesales course with BT, are you saying that's wrong?

DG