Course is Free, Certificate costs - Does this count as a tax free expense?

[AliceGB]

Hi,

An employee has submitted a claim to be reimbursed for a training certificate that they have paid for and they expect it to be treated as a tax free expense.

Course:

Relevant to role / Free / Course provider and certification service are not registered on the ofqual/gov website.

The cost is due to the certificate evidence itself, and 3 options were provided:

Option 1 - Digital diploma / Option 2 - PDF + Print / Option 3 - PDF + Framed Print

The employee chose option 2 which was more expensive than option 1.

Concerns:

Not registered on ofqual/gov website
Free course, yet paying for the certificate, and certificate may not have been necessary if another way to provide evidence of passing (we have a screenshot of them passing the course and the website suggesting they should pay for a certificate to 'highlight skills to potential employers').

I've been told that the managers approved it, but that doesnt concern me, I just want to know how HMRC would expect us to treat this payment.

Should we be treating this as a tax free expense, when the course itself was free and the employee chose to pay for the certificate?

Many thanks

AGB

 

[DWS]

Did you as employers ask the employee to go on this course and if so did you also ask for the certificate as proof of qualification?
But to be honest if the course is relevant to the employees work then I can’t see HMRC even caring

 

[AliceGB]

Did you as employers ask the employee to go on this course and if so did you also ask for the certificate as proof of qualification?
But to be honest if the course is relevant to the employees work then I can’t see HMRC even caring

We would not have asked as not a necessity for role itself, but we do encourage development and the course is relevant to the role. I imagine we would have accepted the screenshot of evidence that the course was completed, it confirmed their name and pass rate %. From the evidence show for the claim, it looks like the certificate is more for the employee to keep for their own records.

 

[DWS]

We would not have asked as not a necessity for role itself, but we do encourage development and the course is relevant to the role. I imagine we would have accepted the screenshot of evidence that the course was completed, it confirmed their name and pass rate %. From the evidence show for the claim, it looks like the certificate is more for the employee to keep for their own records.

I can’t see you having a problem with HMRC as long as the course is relevant to the employees job, the only issue I see is that the employee paid for this instead of yourselves as employers, normally with a job related course the employer would foot the bill.
Not sure what your position is within the business but I would speak to the accountant who would know more about your business.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

Have a read here it should help -

Expenses and benefits: training payments

Tax and reporting rules for employers providing training to employees

www.gov.uk