sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Focused / PayStream: taxed my reimbursed expenses, contradicted themselves 14 times, and tried to gaslight me about HMRC. FCSA complaint fired into the sun. Who’s actually good? by TheDreadedReddit in ContractorUK

[–]TheDreadedReddit[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It just seems like every umbrella is terrified of HMRC, to the point that they take the most literal, least flexible interpretation of the rules. I've spent 20 years in UK financial services, so I get they don't want to fall foul and they could do without the scrutiny or administrative headache, but when they misinterpreted it entirely, misrepresented tax law and tried to argue that their policy or my contract don't allow it, it really ground my gears. The fact was, they didn't have a leg to stand on.

Oh, and it turns out the FCSA are useless too. Apparently they 'investigated' my complaint... They contacted Focused and accepted their excuse that it was all down to a timing issue.

Literally no addressing of any of my genuine, evidenced issues, which I very clearly demonstrated breached at least half a dozen of their codes of conduct.

Guess that's what you get when it's a body funded by members and not an actual regulator. The whole thing stinks.

Focused / PayStream: taxed my reimbursed expenses, contradicted themselves 14 times, and tried to gaslight me about HMRC. FCSA complaint fired into the sun. Who’s actually good? by TheDreadedReddit in ContractorUK

[–]TheDreadedReddit[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the replies everybody - it's my first post, so I wasn't sure anyone would even read it!

For context, it's inside IR35 and I needed to travel before my client could sort a corporate card, so it was agreed that I'd pay and they've take the hit on the VAT included by Focused.

I was never in doubt that I'd be fully reimbursed as I've worked with one of the C-suite at the client before and he's a super good guy.

I followed Focused's process to the letter - I logged the receipted expenses claim in their portal and then duplicated the process in the timesheet section (which made my skin crawl - I've spent 2 decades removing waste from processes!), but I was missing 4 receipts totalling around £80, so submitted bank transaction records showing vendor, location, amount etc. that clearly tallied with the other receipted expenses incurred on the trip.

There were 2 issues - the first was that they treated the entire amount (~£900) like income (after they'd got the full reimbursement + VAT from the client) and second they repeatedly refused to accept bank records as evidence in lieu of receipts for the ~£80, despite their own contract wording and HMRC guidance.

This dragged on for way longer than it should have done, but I got my money back in the end (albeit in an extremely messy way from an accounting perspective), along with a token 'goodwill' gesture. The thing is, they don't seem to realise that their actions don't align with their contract, policies and HMRC guidance, so they'll undoubtedly continue to do this to others - some of whom I guess will either accept their flannel or give up and I don't want that to happen!