Readers’ forum: Apportioning costs of football event for staff

My client is a reasonably large building company operating across a wide geographic area. It is proposing to sponsor a football match at a local division 2 football club. It will put up advertising hoardings and a marquee adjacent to the ground.

Staff and their families will be invited to attend the match and to be entertained before and after the match at the marquee. The company will also invite a small number of clients to the event.

The client is doing this partly to advertise its services and partly to thank its staff for their hard work. It believes that the costs of inviting a few clients will be de minimis and as such it has suggested that the full costs will be deductible for corporation tax purposes.

I have suggested that the costs should be apportioned on a head-by-head basis between clients and staff but...