Can I claim mileage?

I think you can either : claim mileage ; or consider your vehicle as a capital and cost item, the total of which is split in proportion to personal / private mileage.

However, you can't claim mileage for commuting to your normal place of work ; and that may be where the ambiguity arises.

The only answer will be to bump up what you charge, all your competitors must be in the same position. A friend quit caring housecalls, because she spent more on fuel than the minimum-wage time at each place.

When you say you "go to different practices every day", is there a pattern, or is it purely random?

Are all these practices in the same general area, i.e. town or are they spread across several towns?

Can you confirm you're a sole trader and not a limited company?

Gb1623 wrote: »

I work as a self employed dental nurse. I have previously claimed mileage, I submitted all my paperwork to my bookkeeper in April and have been informed I can no longer claim mileage

I was wondering if anyone could confirm that this is correct.

Many thanks

Gb1623 wrote: »

I am a sole trader. I don't have a pattern to the practices I go to I travel anything from 2 miles each way to 40+ miles each way. I invoice each practice and they pay me directly.

Thank you. I appreciate all your help

Rather than any of us trying to fully understand your business, or indeed try to guess at what your bookkeeper is referring to, could I suggest you ask your bookkeeper what is is he/she thinks has changed since the beginning of this tax year that has led to him/her providing you with this advice?

Post the reply here and then we may all be able to help you further

Gb1623 wrote: »

Thank you. I don't have a normal place of work as I generally go to different practices every day.

I was told because I can't do my job without being in a practice then I can't claim mileage

This may be a hint as to the reasoning the bookkeeper is using

You cannot usually claim tax releief for travelling to and from work. Most people have a permanent place of work, and so can claim tax relief if for business reasons, they are required to travel from that place of work to another on a temporary basis for such business.

Based on what you have siad, you don't appear to have a permanent place of work as you do not have permanent employment. Rather you obtain a new contract each day and are paid for the work you perform that day. So in your case, each day you essentially have a new job and a new place of work. If, having arrived at your contracted place of work that day, you need to perhaps go to another place for a couple of hours to cover staff shortage, or perhaps go out to collect supplies, then those additional journeys would be allowed tax releif, but not the jorneys to your place of work, sorry.

However, I don't know that this has changed at all since the start of the tax year, so your bookkeeper has presumably a better understanding of what you actually do, and indeed has reasons to suspect something has recently cahnged, either in how you operate or in the appropriate law.

Talk to your bookkeeper and do let us know the response