Top 5 tips for surviving the April business expenses claim nightmare

With the end of another UK tax year approaching, many companies are demanding staff ensure their business expenses claims are up-to-date. KDS offers workers five tips and a guide on how to cut the pain.

With the 5th April comes the end of another tax year. For many employees, the approach to this anniversary will have been met with demands from Finance to get their expenses claims up-to-date.

“We know from a February survey, that even in this digital age some 52% of UK office staff are required by their employer to hang on to every expenses receipt, enter every single one into a spreadsheet claim or even complete a form with a pen,” said Dean Forbes, CEO at KDS. “At the end of every tax year, finance wants to finalise the books and their email requesting final expense claims will send a shiver down the spine of many an employee.”

A nightmare for many staff, help is on hand from KDS, as they’ve put together 5 handy tips to make your expenses-claim life easier.

1) Ensure that your business expense will be in policy.

If unsure, check the online policy: if the expense is necessary but outside policy, raise an emergency exception and gain an OK to incur the expense.

2) Never put off for any amount of time what you can do now.

Deal with the expense immediately – log it, photograph the receipt, mark it as something meaningful.

3) Ensure that you have all the supporting information you need.

Write down names of who you were with on the receipt before you photograph it, or photograph the people themselves (as long as they are OK with that). Make sure that everything you need is legally connected to the one expense claim.

4) Register your credit card with the expense management system.

This will allow you to match items directly to expenses – and will help you avoid not only late payment charges, but also ensure, for example, that foreign expenses are recompensed in full – rather than at some strange exchange rate decided by the organisation.

5) At month- and year- end, relax.

It has all been dealt with – to company policy, with everything correctly logged and reclaimed. You have made it – you are an expenses star: you can sleep soundly at night. Your sanity is intact!
Download ‘Surviving the Expenses Nightmare’ – strategic advice and everyday tips from www.kds.com

“Strategically, corporate finance and HR chiefs need to recognise that by expecting employees to use manual claims processes like spreadsheets and paper forms, they are wasting the productivity of their most valuable assets – their people – on bureaucracy,” said Forbes. “Employers switching from manual claims processing to the use of modern, automated tools also benefit from reduced errors, better fiscal compliance, improved VAT reclaims and a fast approval workflow system for line managers.”