Readers' forum: Hair-brained scheme

Seemingly like many others I had a haircut on Christmas Eve. The salon was a hive of activity and to enter into the spirit of the seasonal festivities the hairdressers were dressed as elves reindeer fairies Santa’s helpers and the like.

I asked my hairdresser whether the salon owner had provided the festive costumes but was told that the workers had each bought their own outfits. I was also informed that some cost between £30 and £50 or perhaps more.

While waiting for my hair colour to set and as an alternative to the various magazines on offer I started to wonder about the tax treatment here.

For the employees I assume that these costs would not meet the ‘wholly exclusively and necessarily’ test but what if the salon owner had paid for them? Would these fall under the description of...