Voluntary car service question

hi i can answer this honestly as i am a voluntry driver for nhs mental services.

basically it is the same as buissness millage you can do the first 10,000 miles at 40p then the rate reduces to 25p for anything after, or you can be paid a lower rate ie 35p then you could do 14000 miles or 32p you could do 20000 miles different hospitals have different rates but we are paid the standard 40p and 25p i will explain the best i can.

so if you were to do 15,000 miles at 40p for tax purposes the first 10,000 miles you would not pay tax. the 5,000 miles tax man says you should be paid 25p but you are being paid 40p so the difference 40-25=15p would be taxable, the tax on 15p is 3p
so tax would be 3x5000=150 you would have to pay £150 tax, on the extra 5000 miles.
(the taxman classes the extra 15p as profit so therefore becomes taxable)

or you could do the 15000 doing 10000 at 40p then 5000 at 25p if you dont want the hassle.

another option so you can do 15000 and still claim the 40p for the whole 15000(or more as we can do) is to base it on your whole years driving, this involves keeping recipts for anything to do with your car eg servicing, parts,mot,insurance etc then you work it out on proportion of vol driving to personal driving

example:

i drive 15000 miles for voluntry and 5000 of my own
15000+5000=20000
for tax purposes the tax man allows you 40p for you personal milage so

20000x40=£8000
you then work out your proportion of vol to personal

15000 is 3/4 of 20000
you then take 3/4 of 8000 =6000

6000 is what you are paid for doing 15000 miles thus no tax to pay
if you do it this way you have to keep all recipts for 2 years incase the taxman gets intouch with you.
you don't have to register with inland revenue or tell them you are doing it but if you do it the way you pay tax then you will have to ask for a self assesment form at the end of the year.

you can do voluntry driving on jsa you must tell them you are doing it and still attend any interviews they request. it won't affect your pay.

we are in uproar about this as voluntry is voluntry but tax man thinks you make a profit on your driving if you go over the 10000 miles at 40p.

if you are unsure then please private message me as i have all info
you could also look on inland revenue internet site(sorry dont have link)

all information is in leaflet IR122


some of our drivers do over 20000 miles year and for now have gone down to the 25p after the first 10000 as they don't want the hassle.

hi ,
yes it does pay enough to run and maintain my car i average 1500-1800 miles a month except when school holidays are around and i have to look after children.

we put a claim sheet in every month, i don't know if all voluntry organisations do the same.
not sure how the congestion charge would work but i guess they would either give you the money then you hand them the recipt or whether you would pay it then hand reciept when you got back and them reimburse you. we also get £1.75 reimburst if we buy something to eat whilst out.

we have worked it out that for the milage we do you are making a loss if you claim the 25p after the first 10000.i claim 40p and use the year system i have all my recipts.

hope you find something, i find it very rewarding and it helps me as i suffer mild deppression and it takes my mind of it and gives me something to do.

regards
donna xxx

if you sign onto jsa then yes they would expect you to look for work, just a thought would you be better claiming incapacity benifit instead?

doing voluntry work means just that it is voluntry and if you don't feel like doing any then you just tell them there are no reprocautions, we normally have regulars but if you cant make it in they rearrange or send taxis, i normally feel guilty if i have to say i can't do it but they keep telling me not to feel guilty and they appriciate it when i do it.

also worth remembering it is not a job, you are not paid as an employee you just claim expenses.

i do the voluntry for the nhs mental health service, we do have some problems with them paying expenses on time though