INTRODUCTION RACS Group s ethos is fundamentally based on a desire to provide Contractors with an unrivalled payroll service which embraces the ultimate compliance credentials, best commercial value and excellent customer service. Our processes and procedures have been refined over the past seven years to comply with all government and HMRC legislative guidelines. This includes our Expenses Procedure, which has recently been updated to provide a new way of processing genuinely incurred business expenses. This document provides an introduction to RACS Group s Online Expenses Procedure and outlines how we ensure our system collects all the information necessary to protect you, whilst we remain fully compliant. This document gives an overview of the following key areas: Information you will need Logging into your account Your Online Portal Travel Log Expenses Section & Log Frequently Asked Questions INFORMATION YOU WILL NEED Before beginning, please ensure you have the following information to hand: Your home postcode The name of your assignment location (i.e. place of work) Your place of work postcode Your mode of transport (i.e. car, motorbike, bicycle, train, bus, taxi, etc) The precise time you left home The time you returned home Your receipts for any expenses you wish to claim
COMPLETING THE ONLINE FORM Logging in to your Account To begin you need to visit our website www.racsgroup.com. You will see a lady holding the laptop and underneath it says Log in. Please click here. The next screen will ask you to enter your email address and your password. By default your password is your 6 digit date of birth (ddmmyy). Your Online Portal Once successfully logged in you are taken to your Online Portal where you can amend details, add agencies to your account, view payslips and submit expenses. Click on Submit Expenses. A pre-populated form will appear. A B In this section you first need to indicate if this is your First Assignment. A B Change the date of the form to the corresponding week ending date of your expenses you are claiming. The following 3 questions require your input before the form can be submitted: 1. Is this a new Contract/Assignment? 2. Is your new contract greater than 10 miles from the previous contract? 3. Is the journey considerably different from the last one? These questions refer to the 24 month rule that states: if you are in a position for more than 24 months you are considered a permanent employee and are NOT eligible to claim expenses.
Travel Log This is for all types of transport and must be filled in fully. Please follow steps 1 to 5 to complete the form: 1. Enter the date you travelled to the assignment you are claiming for. 2. Enter the name of the place you are working at, i.e the school, hospital or company who you are providing your services to. To do this you need to click on + new if it is the first time you are filling in this form or you are going to a new placement. The system will ask you to fill in the name, start date and the agency you worked through for that assignment. After you have clicked Add Workplace, this location will automatically appear in a drop down box for the next claim. 3. Add the location of your assignment, i.e. the town or city. 4. Enter the mode of transport used. If you are claiming for mileage, the mode of transport selected will automatically calculate the correct mileage rate. If you do not select public transport it will ask you to enter the registration details of the vehicle you drove to work. 5. Complete your home postcode, the time you left home, assignment postcode, the time you returned home and either your mileage or the amount you have spent on fares for the day. This needs to be completed for each day s worth of travel. The system will provide you with a summary of the miles or transport used and how much you have claimed so far, as illustrated on the next page. ALL TRAVEL CLAIMS MUST BE ENTERED IN THE TRAVEL LOG SECTION TO BE PROCESSED.
Expenses Section The Expenses section is where you claim expenses that you have incurred. This ranges from meals, stationery, accommodation and even personal protective equipment required for your work. C C You are eligible to claim the meals listed above, dependant on your times of work. Please ensure you only select the breakfast and evening meals in exceptional circumstances. Simply enter the number of days in the one meal allowance or two meal allowance section, for the days you have worked. Please be aware if you are out of the house for 5-9 hours you can only claim for one meal allowance. You need to be out of the house for 10+ hours to be able to claim for the two meal allowance under our dispensation. PLEASE KEEP ALL RECEIPTS AS THERE IS A HIGH CHANCE YOU WILL BE ASKED TO PRODUCE THEM FOR A SPOT CHECK.
Expenses Log The Expenses Log is where you need to add the details of any other expenses incurred (e.g. paper, postage, ink cartridges). Remember all expenses must be wholly and exclusively incurred for work purposes. You will need to fill in the date, the expense incurred, a brief description, the workplace and the cost. If it is a new work place please use + new to enter the details, as you did with the travel section. After you have completed your Expenses Claim Form and mileage log, please read the terms and conditions, then click I agree with the above. Next, click the Continue button and you will be directed to another page where you can upload receipts for the claims you have made on the form. If you don t have the facility to upload your receipts then just scroll down and there is button to submit the form.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Why has my claim for petrol been denied? Petrol is covered in the price calculated by HMRC for mileage as are all running costs of your car (road tax, insurance and any repairs) and therefore cannot be claimed separately. Why do I have to submit a form every week? Can I not just fill in one and it gets used every week? The reason you are asked to fill in a separate form each week is due to the fact we would not know at the time of processing the claim if you had worked more or less in a particular week than usual. There may also be additional things you would be eligible for and want to claim for in any given week. There are also times when you may be ill and not make it to work for a day or two if you over claimed you would be liable to pay back the excess tax relief. If I have forgotten to submit a claim for a previous week have I lost the benefit of those Expenses? No. You are able to back date expense claims providing you were being paid through RACS Group for the period you want to claim for and have continuing payments through us. The only time you would not be able to back date a claim is if it falls in a previous tax year. When do I get paid my expenses? Typically you will get paid your expenses whenever you are regularly paid (weekly, fortnightly or monthly etc...). Please remember that all claims submitted MUST be supported by an Expense Claim Form (every time) and receipts where possible. Some expenses may not be paid to you, if your earnings level fall near to or below National Minimum Wage or where proof has not been seen by us. Do I need to send receipts in for all the meals I am claiming? No, we do not need to see all receipts. However, you must keep them in case you are audited by HMRC. OnlExpPro/03/14/Orig