Sponsorship/Advertisement

[scanman73]

Hello,

My son and I have started to race cars.

I also run a company and would like to sponsor myself and my lad.

For this sponsorship I will advertise my company on the cars and gear etc.

My queries are as follows:

Is sponsorship like this allowable under Revenue rules e.g. as advertisement?

Are there any issues with the sponsorship coming to me or my son as I own the company? Could it be deemed as a personal "gain"?

Assuming all the above is allowable what would be deemed a "reasonable" financial amount of sponsorship over a 12 month period?

As the receiver of the sponsorship what records do I have to keep and provide back to the company/Revenue? Do I have to record exactly what the sponsorship money was spent on? Is there an implications around what we spend the money on e.g. travel expenses?

Would the company be allowed to purchase equipment and "donate" this to the team in order to realise the VAT benefits? E.g. purchase the equipment from the UK VAT free?

Any feedback in this area would be appreciated as I believe there is no published Revenue guidelines on this topic.

Thanks.

 

[osheamanning]

Scanman

Regarding the VAT question, I would say No. To reclaim the UK VAT you would have to show that the purchase is 100% for business purposes. If the equipment is going to be donated elsewhere, then definitely not.

What is the value of the advertising, and is it really worth all the hassle ?

 

[cremeegg]

I would think that the best way to structure this is for the company to begin racing, employing you and your son to run the racing operation, drive the cars, enter the competitions etc. Then the cars could be purchased by the company, all costs would be deductible, subject to the usual rules.