Receipts & expenses

[tr7v8]

My wife's company have suddenly decided that when she does her expenses she has to provide receipts for everything at all levels of expenditure. This includes car parks where although they charge around £3-£5 don't offer a receipt.
I seem to remember this coming up on here & there being a level below which receipts don't need to be offered.

[Eric Mc]

Why not.

If I employed staff I would expect my employees to support their expense claims with documentary evidence.

What Car Park doesn't issue receipts?

And where did you get any notion that there was some sort of "de minimis" level belwo which receipts weren't necessary? HMRC certainly doesn't have such rules.

[tr7v8]

So how come Dartford Tunnel does not issue receipts. This is one I believed we discussed.
What about car parks that take your ticket on exit?

[Eric Mc]

tr7v8 said:

So how come Dartford Tunnel does not issue receipts. This is one I believed we discussed.
What about car parks that take your ticket on exit?

You didn't mention tunnels in your original post.

Most car park machines offer you the option to have a printed receipt. This is absolutely vital if you want to reclaim VAT (all commercial car parks will charge VAT - which you are entitled to reclaim if the parking was business related).
Local Authority car parks tend not to charge VAT so there is no VAT to reclaim on those types of parking costs.

HMRC have different criteria for different taxes.

VAT is VERY prescriptive. If you want to make a VAT claim, you MUST have a paper (or electronic) equivalent) VAT legal voucher or receipt.

Income Tax/Corporation Tax is less precise. Adequate evidence of the business cost is all that is required. A receipt or voucher is the best evidence but an entry on a credit card statement or a bank statement or a credit card voucher or even an entry on a cheque stubb may be sufficient to prove the cost was incurred.

Obviously, businesses will have different internal rules regarding paying expenses to their staff. I would insist on some documetary proof that an expense was paid. A paper receipt is always the best evidence but if a member of staff had to pay something (say) using their credit card, the credit card voucher or an image of the entry on the credit card statement wioul;d be good enough for me. What I wouldn't accept on its own is the employee's hand written entry on their expense claim form.