Misc other benefits
A selection of other expenses/benefits that may be of interest is listed below.
Pension advice
Pension advice is allowable up to £500 in value per employee. If an amount exceeds this, only the difference would be a taxable benefit. There are two conditions:
• The advice or reimbursement must be connected to a scheme that is available to all employees and not just restricted to senior employees
• The advice is specific to an employee due to their ill health or they are within five years of being able to access their pension. So if that is 57, the qualifying age is 52.
Relocating costs
A business may contribute up to £8,000 towards the costs of relocating for its employees. It is unlikely that HMRC would permit any claim for payment to someone connected to a director-shareholder.
These are called ‘qualifying’ costs and include:
• The costs of buying or selling a home, including stamp duty
• Moving costs
• Purchasing certain things for a new home
• Bridging loans used to immediately relocate while the previous home is being sold
These are only qualifying costs when:
• A new employee is moving area to start a job with you
• An existing employee is changing their place of work within your organisation
• The employee’s new home is reasonably close to the workplace, and their old home is not
• The costs are paid before the end of the tax year, that’s after the one in which the employee started their job. So if they started in May 2023, these must be repaid by 5 April 2024
Retraining costs
A business may pay for retraining for an employee or former employees to help them obtain further work. The conditions that must be satisfied for this are detailed here. Any consideration of significant cost of further education should also consider the guidance in HMRC’s employment manuals.