Home economics

摘要

Jez Abbott looks at how gardeners can ensure they steer clear of taxation on tied accommodation. Tied accommodation can be the crucial factor that turns a gardener's meagre salary into a living wage. But now this traditional element of the job seemsto have been identified as a soft target for the Inland Revenue, which is attempting to wring more money out of gardeners by claiming that living on site is a perk rather than part of the job. According to the Inland Revenue, it is hard to give definitive guidance on whether you should be taxed on accommodation as a benefit or whether your humble pile is exempt because it is needed for the job. "If you have to be in a cottage for your duties and each and every person after you in that job is expected to live in the accommodation, it can be exempted from tax," says a tax office representative. However, she adds that although the rules are hard and fast in theory, it is difficult to generalise in reality- game-keepers and shepherds, as well as gardenersand lock-keepers live in such homes and their work varies drastically. It is made even more difficult by the increasingly "flexible" definition of the modern gardener's duties. Today's live-in gardeners may have to undertake security or caretaker dutiesin the absence of their employers or as part of a larger team, as in organisations like the National Trust. In these circumstances, there would seem to be a pretty clear-cut case. But what about evening or early morning trips to open and close glasshouses, or weekend watering? And the gardeners who end up chauffeuring employers backwards and forwards to stations and airports?