Because I love HMRC so

[fivemack]

If I work as a scientist, is a subscription to Nature tax-deductible? Or is that only a meaningful question for the essentially self-employed?

Comments

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

Fun thing I discovered the other day. If you have to provide your own transport between workplaces, for which you would be entitled to receive the AMAP mileage rates free of tax, but work pays less than those rates, you can claim the difference against tax.

Sorry. I'll get my coat...

[aardvark179.livejournal.com]

So is there any profit to be made from you (with your corporate hat) being stingy on the mileage rates so that you (with your employee hat) can offset them under a different tax regime?

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

Case 1: Expense paid. So for every car mile driven, that's 40p which I can pay myself out of my gross pre-tax profits. Result = 40p in pocket as soon as I claim it from myself.

Case 2: Expense not paid. That means that the same 40p is in my company's taxable profits, so after corporation tax (small companies rate 20%, soon to be 21%) I get 32p in my pocket as part of the dividend after the end of the financial year. I also get to claim the 40p as a taxable expense in my next personal tax return, which means that I'd get tax relief on it. My PAYE-taxed income is currently just into the 22% band, so up to a point each mile is worth 8.8p of tax rebate - but after a while I'm likely to fall down into the 10% band (4p rebate) or even out of that altogether (no rebate).

So it's 40p now, versus 41p/36p/32p next year. Not really a win...

[crazyscot.livejournal.com]

Dammit, I said I'd get my coat 8-)