This article summarises the types of expenses payments likely to be reimbursed as part of an effective reward strategy. Not all expenses payments are treated equally for tax and NIC purposes, and some of the main differences are also outlined below.
Identifying expenses which are wholly business related
Most employers will wish to reimburse their staff for any expenses incurred legitimately in the performance of their duties. If they do not, the employee will be out of pocket, in addition any such non-reimbursed expenses will reduce the employee's effective pay for National Minimum Wage purposes1.
HMRC applies a strict interpretation to decide whether expenses are tax-deductible, which is based on many years of decisions handed down by the courts and tribunals. Travel expenses have to be incurred 'necessarily' and 'in the performance of' the duties of employment. In effect this means that the employee must be travelling to what legislation deems as a 'temporary workplace', or between two workplaces, to be allowable (see E4.716A). The default position
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