“Do companies pay travel allowances to their Non-Executive Directors for attendance at overseas Board meetings? If so, are these paid for all meetings or only where intercontinental travel or flights of more than a specified duration are required?”
“Do companies pay travel allowances to their Non-Executive Directors for attendance at overseas Board meetings? If so, are these paid for all meetings or only where intercontinental travel or flights of more than a specified duration are required?”
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FTSE 100 said
We generally arrange travel, accommodation and meals directly so NEDs do not usually incur any expenditure in attending meetings overseas. Should they incur any expenditure themselves, it would be claimed via the normal expenses procedure in the same way as expenses in attending UK based board meetings are claimed.
FTSE 100 said
Payment or reimbursement of travel costs to HQ for board meetings is a taxable BIK/cash allowance even for those travelling long distances. An often neglected tax point which applies generally where a company meets costs of getting to work.
FTSE 250 said
We tend to organise the travel, accommodation and meals ourselves so pay directly for all that we can. The NEDs then submit expense claims for any actual expenditure that we have not covered. There are no allowances.
In fact, our NEDs try to organise any company visits at a time they may already be travelling for another of their companies and then we split the airfare cost with the other company.
It’s completely transparent and there’s no “double-dipping”.
FTSE 250 said
We pay an allowance to non-UK based non-executive directors (outside Europe). The fee is paid per visit and does not relate to the number of meetings carried out during that visit.
Otherwise, we pay travel expenses and hotel accommodation for all NEDs irrespective of their home location.
FTSE 100 said
Up to 2009 we paid a £3000 allowance to overseas NEDs travelling to UK (but not to UK NEDs travelling overseas). No allowances are now paid, just travel and accommodation expenses.
FTSE 100 said
We do not pay any overseas allowances, we meet travel and accomodation costs.
At a previous employer we paid an allowance of £2k per meeting, for every meeting attended outside of the directors country of residence
FTSE 100 said
We do not pay travel allowances as we regard them as part of the normal NED fee. We do pay their expenses in country – hotel, meals, etc.
FTSE 250 said
We do not pay travel allowances to UK Directors, attending occasional Board meetings overseas. We pay flights and expenses.
We do pay an allowance to a specific overseas director to attend meetings in the UK. This is paid through the payroll and is subject to PAYE.
FTSE 100 said
We reimburse the cost of their travel, accommodation etc but not an “allowance”.
FTSE 100 said
We only pay travel expenses. Hotel and meal costs etc are normally paid directly by the company. If paid by the Non-Executive Director they would be reimbursed. We also pay the travel expenses of our overseas Non-Executive Directors when they attend meetings in the UK. We deem time travelling to Board meetings as part of the duties of all directors with is built into their fees.
FTSE 250 said
We pay for travel expenses only (flights, hotels, meals). A meeting allowance is not paid. Our company has number of overseas offices (including Asia and US) and it is considered part of the job for the NEDs to be familiar with overseas operations and key staff in all of them. It is aligned with the regulator’s expecations in that regard.
FTSE 250 said
We pay the travel expenses – flights, hotels and lunches/dinners but no allowance as such.
Query whether paying an allowance in these circumstances would be taxable as a benefit in kind?
FTSE 100 said
We pay for travel expenses only, including business class flights, hotels, meals etc. An allowance is not paid as the requirement to attend meetings and become familiar with the business is part of the fee arrangements. This has been my experience in other FTSE100s.
FTSE 100 said
We provide overseas meeting allowances as below:
Long distance flights (>10hrs) – £7,500 per meeting
Medium distance flights (5-10hrs) – £3,500 per meeting
Short distance flights (under 5hrs) – nil