Help!! P87 / PAYE / No permanant workplace

punkstoner

Hi

I am a security officer, working on a PAYE basis for a national manned guarding company, i'm on a zero hour contract, meaning that If I do not go to work, I do not get paid.

I have no permanant site, I work at a different place everyday.

I travel between 10 miles and 45 miles each way, per day. Due to shift start/finish times, and the duration(12 hours minimum usually) public transport is not an option.

The recent increase in fuel costs has made me think about re-evaluating my situation.

My earnings:

5 * 12hrs = 60hrs PW
60 * 6.50 = £390.00
less tax / NI / Student loan, £117.00 approx

This leaves after tax, £273.00

My car costs on a weekly basis:

Finance: £55.00
Insurance: £32.50
Maintenence £15.00
Tax £2.50
Fuel £40.00

This totals some £145.00

Pretax wages: £390.00
Minus costs of car: £145.00
Equals £245.00
Divided by 60hrs = £4.08 p/h pre-tax.

Being a car-owner, is a condition of my employment, so without a car, I will not be without work.

As such, am I able to use the P87 to mitigate some of these costs?

Any help would be appreciated, I am now at the end of my teather now with these costs. PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!

kitty1801

Assuming you did the maximum 45 mile journey every day 5 days out of 7 for 47 weeks of the year, you would be able to claim 45*5*47 = 10,575 miles per year.

The expense you can claim is 10,000 miles at 40p/mile then anything over that at 25p/mile so (10000*0.40) + (575*0.25) = £4143.75

You are paying tax at 20% so what you will get back is 4143.75*20% = £828 refund pa.

Bearing in mind, this is based on your maximum journey being travelled every day, chances are your claim will be worth much less than this.

The other thing to bear in mind is whether the tax office will actually accept your claim. This is dependant on your contract of employment etc which you should double check with your own office.

QTC

£55pw finance seems steep. Is the car particularly dear?

punkstoner

[HTML]£55pw finance seems steep. Is the car particularly dear?[/HTML]

Not really, its a 7 year old diesel vw passat, A) bought a while ago when I had a better job, and on 'sub-prime finance', with welcome..

I have been trying to find some promising examples in the EI manual on HMRC, however its awfully confusing, to the point of being contradictory.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM32164.htm

This however implies I can claim? I am very confused!

olly300

The main thing is what does your employment contract state.

Does it give the company's Head Office as the address that you are based at? Or does it state clearly that you have no permanent work place?

If so you can claim as kitty1801 states but you need to keep some form of log yourself about where you have worked and the mileage plus proof that you did the mileage. (Easiest way is to keep all your car servicing documents.) Keep your records for 6 years.

If you are still confused then:
1. Read your employment contract properly and find out what it says your work location is.
2. Phone up your local tax office on Monday and ask them about whether you can claim. Be polite and they should be helpful. They may send you a form for the last tax year as well if you were working then.