TRAVEL & EXPENSE CLAIM POLICY

Transcription

1 TRAVEL & EXPENSE CLAIM POLICY Next review date: August 2016 Authorised by: Chris Anderson 1

2 1.0 Purpose In implementing this policy Managers must ensure that all staff are treated fairly and within the provisions and spirit of the business Equality & Diversity policy. This policy is to provide guidance to employees claiming subsistence and business expenses. It does not form part of any employee s contract of employment and may be varied at any time. 2.0 Scope This policy should be read in conjunction with the Manual Expense Policy and the Corporate Credit card policy. Expenses are paid When an employee is required to work away from home or usual place of work. To provide financial support to assist with additional costs for business travel and associated expenditure on meals and overnight accommodation. Where the employee has been authorised to purchase an item for the business use in line with their official duties. Casual user mileage is paid when Staff pay for fuel privately and travel for work. This does not apply to the journey from home to work. It is not expected that employees will profit or lose money as a result of this policy, but rather to ensure that they are not out of pocket. All expense claims should be approved by the appropriate Manager / Director, and in line with approval levels. No expenses will be paid where the claim has not been approved. The company may refuse to meet in whole or in part claims in respect of unreasonable expenses, or those expenses which could have been avoided had a journey been better planned. Employees who are deemed to have profited or submitted false or inflated claims may be subject to disciplinary action, further they may be subject to HMRC tax increases and investigation. Line Management is responsible for the correct application of this policy and for ensuring their direct reports are aware of and understand the policy. You and your manager must sign off your expenses otherwise they will not be processed and submit to accounts. Receipts submitted must be VAT receipts. Credit card receipts are not acceptable. (HMRC rules) Our Company has a zero tolerance approach to bribery in compliance with relevant anti-bribery laws in all the regions in which we operate. Offering or accepting a bribe, or behaving corruptly in anticipation of a bribe or advantage is not acceptable. 2

3 3.0 Expense and Mileage Procedure Staff with a Corporate Credit Card are to submit expenses on the Concur based. All other staff will submitted on the excel based company expense form. All receipts should support all actual expenses. Receipts must be VAT receipts not credit card receipts. Always ask for a VAT receipt which should display the VAT number, however on occasion there might be items that are not VAT rated e.g. train travel. If there is foreign currency to sterling rates on receipts please provide these. If you are unable to obtain a receipt, please take a picture on your phone and send through with your electronic expenses. For example, vending machine, car park price tariff. All non-receipt expenses will be paid at your line manager s discretion and will be approved in line with authority limits for approval and then onto the Finance Department. Staff should be careful to indicate the nature of the expenses included in their claims by giving full details of each journey, and brief explanations of any unusual expenditure. Claims will be paid in line with the employee s pay date. To meet the pay date employees must submit claims and receipts for the prior month by the 19th of each month to the Finance Department. Late submission will result in payment being deferred to the next month. Employees are advised to enter monthly expenses claims. Claims over 3 months old will be disallowed and will only be paid at the Finance Directors or CEOs discretion. 4.0 Casual Mileage Car Users If you pay for your fuel privately and travel for work then you may be able to claim a mileage allowance for this. This does not apply to the journey from home to work. Prior to the initial claim employees will be required to complete a risk assessment as part of the Company s commitment to effective risk management. To be eligible for reimbursements, employees must ensure compliance with: - holding a DVLA licence valid for category of vehicle being driven ensuring the vehicle is maintained in a roadworthy and legal condition Insure that your personal car insurance is covers you. Random audits may be carried out to ensure on going compliance with the above. Mileage rates paid are in line with published HMRC Mileage Allowance Payments rates. These are the first 10,000 business miles After 10,000 business miles Car or van 45p per mile 25p per mile Motorcycle 24p per mile 24p per mile Cycle 20p per mile 20p per mile 3

4 In order to reclaim VAT, please can you provide a sample of vat receipts for fuel purchased during the period that the expense claim relates to. It does not matter that the amounts on the receipts will not tie in with the mileage being claimed. The receipts are only needed to prove to HMRC that VAT was paid on the fuel. 4.0 Expense Types 4.1 Travelling Official Travelling means travel on duty, including attendance at external training courses. It does not include travel between the member of staff s home and normal place of work. Members of staff are required to take advantage of any low cost facilities, which may be available, including day return, season and advance purchase tickets. Prior to meetings being held at other offices, consideration should be given to the need and whether alternative methods such as telephone or video conferencing would be more appropriate. It is acknowledged that this may not always be possible, and it is also acknowledged that if regular telephone or video conferencing conferences are held it will be beneficial to meet in person on occasion. 4.2 Travel by Taxi Taxi fares are admissible only for journeys for which there is no other suitable method of public transport, where heavy luggage has to be transported, or where the cost of the taxi fare is outweighed by the time saving it achieves, for example reducing overtime, or when a member of staff is concerned about their personal security, i.e. early mornings/late night travelling alone. Please not this must be low cost in a taxi not premium executive cars and should be with a local firm. 4.3 Travel by Air & Rail Air and rail travel should normally be used when there is a cost advantage because of savings of subsistence allowances and official time, or if some other reason justifies any additional cost. Air and rail fares are often cheaper the earlier they are purchased, if booking at less than 20 days prior to travel prices can rise significantly, so where possible advance bookings should be made as early as possible to take advantage of potential lower prices. However, as always this must be weighed against the risks of meetings being rescheduled or cancelled, and the potential costs that may arise from non-flexibility of tickets. The traveller is clearly the person with the experience and knowledge to make such judgements. 4

5 All members of staff should travel in economy class unless prior approval by the CEO is granted. 4.4 Entertainment Meetings outside of the workplace Where a meeting takes place out of the office, as a general rule any entertaining paid for is a taxable benefit for the whole amount of the entertainment (you and your guests) and the Office may have to tax any payment of this kind through the payroll, disclose it to the Inland Revenue on form P11D at the end of the tax year, or reach a PAYE settlement with the Inland Revenue to pay the appropriate tax. Entertainment is only allowable where there is a genuine business reason and must be recorded for Bribery and Corruption purposes. Please write the names of the clients you are entertaining on the receipts please. Where more than 1 person for the company is attending the senior employee should always settle the account. 4.5 Subscriptions to professional bodies The company will pay the fees for any member of staff who wishes to join a professional organisation which is relevant to their job and included on the HM Revenue and Customs Approved list. Professional organisations exist to maintain professional standards and to improve professional s skills. 4.6 Hotels Staff who need to stay overnight should refer to the admin team who will book the accommodation. Other accommodation may be booked where it is not possible to use budget accommodation. If driving and flying to an airport please book a fly drive deal early. Book hotels online through the booking system / travel management company, or through your own means. If booking outside of the system or TMC, costs must be lower than those. You are responsible for all hotel cancellations. Alcohol is not a permitted expense (excluding entertaining) 4.7 Travel tracker A travel tracker must be completed for all international trips and submitted 2 months prior to travel, unless there are exceptional circumstances. This must detail all travel and costs from home to destination. This must be authorised by your relevant department head (DS,RC,CA, LD) at least 30 days prior to departure. These trackers must justify the cost of travel. 4.8 Mobile phones and internet connectivity: Use free wi-fi whenever possible. Reasonable internet connectivity charges can be added to a hotel bill unless already part of the negotiated rate. e.g. Hotels: 4.9 Meals: You can claim for meals while staying overnight, or if travelling for business before 7am or after 8pm and are away from the office for more than half a day. The maximum spend limits are: 5

6 Hotel breakfast - 15 Other breakfast - 10 Lunch - 15 Dinner - up to 30. Client meals/entertainment costs may be higher. All entertainment claims must include a business reason and the name and company of all attendees even those who work for Our Company. This ensures we comply with the UK Bribery Act and also helps us apply the right VAT treatment The following travel-related expenses will not be reimbursed. Credit, debit and charge card fees (including interest, annual costs) Laundry service/dry-cleaning (unless trip is longer than 4 nights) Mini-bar contents Movies/videos, newspapers Parking fines The loss/theft of goods Childcare or petcare Any personal elements Damage to personal vehicles Spa and health/fitness clubs Clothes Flowers, sweets, confectionary Birthday cakes or cards for employees Tourist attractions* Bar bills*. *You can claim these if the event is part of client entertainment. There might be other things that we won t pay for, so make sure you explain the business reason for each claim. 5.1 Parking and Tolls 6

7 Reasonable parking expenses and charges for tolls may be reimbursed when necessarily incurred on journeys, which qualify for mileage allowances. Receipts must be produced except in the case of parking meter charge and Toll charges. Congestion charge fines, parking fines and charges for non-payment of fines are the responsibility of the driver and will be paid by the driver. 6.0 VAT It is important that we can Claim VAT back therefore it is necessary for VAT to be entered correct and VAT receipts collected. Receipts submitted must be VAT receipts. Credit card receipts are not acceptable. (HMRC rules).listed below are some common items that do not have VAT There is no VAT on private mileage but you must provide a VAT fuel receipt to be paid (when you fill up before the journey and ask for the receipt. It will be for a value of fuel greater then you are claiming but that does not matter, this is all about HMRC rules) There is no VAT on rail tickets There is no VAT on the congestion charge scheme in London There is no VAT on the Dartford crossing Parking can have VAT. If there is a VAT number on the receipt then the fee include VAT. Please reference receipts when submitting to the numbers on the expense form There is no VAT on stamps. Royal Mail products that are liable to VAT are as follows: Packet Despatch, Special Delivery 9.00am (stamps, franking and account), Special Delivery Next Day (account), Royal Mail Tracked and Tracked Next Day, Royal Mail Sameday, Packets (including Standard Account packets, Packetpost, Packetsort and Packetsort Plus), Packetpost Returns, Recorded Signed For will also become liable to VAT if purchased as an add-on to a standard rated service. In all other circumstances it will remain VAT exempt. 7

8 7.0 Managers Check list DO NOT SIGN ANY EXPENSE CLAIM until you are satisfied on all of the following points. Approving a false claim by a member of staff may lead to disciplinary action. 1. Was each journey necessary and sensibly planned? 2. Was each journey, the timing and the method of travel approved where practicable in advance? 3. Was each journey carried out in accordance with the prior approval given? 4. Is the expense rate claimed appropriate in relation to the necessary length of absence? couldn t see anything related to subsistence allowances 5. If a taxi fare has been claimed is the justification stated on the claim, and is this justification accepted? 7. Are the fares, starting and finishing times, and distances reasonable to the best of your knowledge? 8. Are receipts attached to support instances of actual expenditure? 9. If paid with your own card the daily exchange rate will be used unless supporting documentation i.e. credit/debit card copy statement are given with exchange rates 10. Only under extreme circumstances will expenses be paid early Once signed the expense claim should be forwarded directly to the Finance Department and should NOT be returned to the claimant. 8