Taxman attacks!

[wheelbarrow]

A new development in the ever changing rules governing expenses and allowances has recently been proposed by the tax office in Northampton.
They are proposing to remove the partial tax free status of per diems, and want to only allow receipted expenses.
Is this another attempt by Brown to bring in yet another "stealth tax" or the result of an over enthusiastic newcomer in the revenue office trying to make a name for themselves?
Has anyone with a different tax office (UK) had this proposed to them?

[M.Mouse]

BALPA has negotiated a succesful and sensible deal with the taxman for BA pilots. I believe they have also been successful with other pilot groups.

Who do you work for and are you a BALPA member?

[Oblique96]

Wheelbarrow

I'm not involved as aircrew anymore (and that was military), but my ground jobs have involved discussions with taxmen.
Each officer has a good deal of power and interpretation. This can be useful when they find in one's favour, but a pain as in this case. However, for the rest of the country, one taxman's decision does not set the rules.

The best way to get a resolution, which might just be painful to those not being hit by this decision (yet), is to check the ruling with HMRC head quarters and/or ask the guys you are dealing with to quote the regulation they are using.

If you are a BALPA member, or in any such union, it might be best to get them on the case.
Rgds
O96

[Loose rivets]

Originally Posted by Oblique96

****************taxmen.
Each officer has a good deal of power and interpretation. ********** However, for the rest of the country, one taxman's decision does not set the rules.

This is blatantly and fundamentally unfair and should have been scotched decades ago.

It's akin to chief police officers re-writing the law in their own patch. How the He11 can people be expected to invest/run/work under these varying ‘interpretations'.

Didn't such a change, back-dated for years, nearly destroy a small outfit in Birmingham?

[BALLSOUT]

The allowance negotiated via BALPA is nothing to do with the tax free portion of per deims/duty pay.
The BALPA agreement is for expenses such as dry cleaning of uniforms, purchase of shoes, flight bags, BALPA subs, etc etc.
The normal tax free element of duty pay is for daily expenses such as meals, phone calls, travel expenses etc.
I am not sure, but it may also have something to do with the fact that we are often out of the country while we earn it.
One previous company i was with deducted a portion of tax from duty pay while working within the UK, but any night stops abroad earned a tax free payment. This was agreed with the tax man.
If this guy gets away with this, it will make quite an impact on the take home pay of those concerned.

[wheelbarrow]

Our current situation is that all duty is performed outside the UK, we are currently taxed on 25% of the hourly rate we receive. The intention is to remove this hourly rate and only allow receipted expenses for food and beverages whilst on duty.
This may be ok if you have the facility to go to a restaurant when required but this is not the case on night freight.
Also, there appears to be no thought to the substantially increased workload ( extra personel ) on the finance department of airlines if they have to deal with 140 crewmembers making receipted claims every month.
It is high time that there was an industry standard on rules governing this aspect of the working package. It should not be that airlines such as BA with large union representation and political clout should be able to negotiate a better deal with the taxman. The guidlines should be followed in a uniform way by all tax offices. Maybe this is what they intend to do and are just testing the water with a small company!

[scroggs]

Originally Posted by Daysleeper

...companies used to just get hotels to issue a wedge of cash on arrival. Tax man got nothing.

That is the way my company pays allowances. The tax man used to get a cut. BALPA negotiated tax-free status for these allowances within the last year.