Can you claim TAX back on Home to Duty ?

VivS_2

Further to my last - here is the link to the relevant IR webpage:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-mileage.htm

yorksherpud

Sorry to be really thick here but my OH has commuted to work for the last 2 years, 55 miles there, 55 miles back. He has received Home to Duty for 18 months, apparently he wasn't able to claim for the first six months as we bought our house a year in to his posting with that particular regiment. He's now posted again and his daily commute is around 60 miles there and 60 miles back. He has been at his new Regiment for 3 weeks. On his pay slip for the end of July he had a GYH payment, which could have been for a 7 week course he did in Farnborough rather than the HTD.

So can he claim the diffference in the rate paid and theGovernment level?

I am sorry to have to ask again but as I said at the beginning I am really thick with stuff like this!

Kind regards

Pud x

VivS_2

yorksherpud wrote: »

Sorry to be really thick here but my OH has commuted to work for the last 2 years, 55 miles there, 55 miles back. He has received Home to Duty for 18 months, apparently he wasn't able to claim for the first six months as we bought our house a year in to his posting with that particular regiment. He's now posted again and his daily commute is around 60 miles there and 60 miles back. He has been at his new Regiment for 3 weeks. On his pay slip for the end of July he had a GYH payment, which could have been for a 7 week course he did in Farnborough rather than the HTD.

So can he claim the diffference in the rate paid and theGovernment level?

I am sorry to have to ask again but as I said at the beginning I am really thick with stuff like this!

Kind regards

Pud x

Pud, No I really don't think so. I'm no tax expert but I have looked into this before and claimed for eligible journeys too. I believe neither HTD or GYH would be eligible for tax relief (ie the difference between the rate paid and the Gov level).

The reason is those journeys counts the same as commuting which are not considered to be 'business journeys' from a taxmans perspective. We are not even pysically doing the journeys all the time since for both GYH and HTD you get paid a flat rate assuming a minimum of so many journeys per mth including times when you are on leave.

It does make some sense logically too. If you think about it the insurance companies insure for everyone going to and from work, hence the lowest level being "social, domestic and pleasure purposes including commuting to and from a permanent place of work". Most civilians do not get even the allowances that we do with the military ackowledging that we cannot easily choose where to live.

From an insurers perspective and miltary regs you have to have business car insurance cover for journeys you do on behalf of your company and it is really these that you can claim the difference for. Another way to think about it is - would the military have given you the use of a MT vehicle for that journey - is the regs say yes - you could claim relief if they say no which they would for both HTD and GYH journeys - the answer is no.

Sorry to be the bearer of the news you don't want.

yorksherpud

Thanks VivS, there are so many things you can claim for and so many you can't it gets so confusing. My OH is not a claimer, despite my beft yorkshire efforts on him, so we are not always aware until something pops up on here!

Kind regards

Pud x

archie159

Several people have commented above that one cannot claim tax back on home to duty travel, and the link to the IR site implies the same. However: I have a collegue, with a letter from the Inland Revenue, which states that as long as one is a forces quarter, and expecting to stay there for 2 years or less (ie a normal posting, in the army at least), then it is regarded as a temporary place of living, and tax can be reclaimed. On this basis she has successfully claimed tax relief for at least 3 years (I think she said, it might be longer - certainly for her past 2 postings). I have not seen the letter itself, but she provided me with a copy of last year's tax form so that I could see the wording she used then (and is re-using this year also).

"Archie"

NewbieMoneySaver**

This post is great, thanks everyone for the info as I have already posted this question on another board a few weeks ago.

I too travel to and from work on a weekly basis though and I get GYH. I drive from my married quarter in plymouth to the base in Portsmouth and only get £180/month.

I do know of people who have also managed to get away with claiming their money back and really just want to see if their claim was luck, or are we all eligible.

Hope we can sort this out. I think a phone call to the IR is the way forward.

Thanks again

Guido_2

As per my earlier post, I know people who have done this in the past and received a lot of money from the Taxman. I'd really like to know EXACTLY how to claim. If anyone knows, and can put it on here in a Step-by-Step way, I think you'd be helping many of us who are not entirely sure how to do it.

Thanks again to everyone who has helped up to now.

NewbieMoneySaver**

thanks again.

With regards to the proof of travel. Do they ask for that or do we just send it to them anyway. I have a credit card statment that has all my proof on it.

Hope we can all do this.

icocopops

Both Archie and VivS are correct. The travel to a temporary workplace ( less than two years and not a course) is the only allowance that you can claim the tax releif on HTD for ( minus the GYH you received, at 40p per mile for the first 12000 and 25p only for any above that) i have claimed for my last 4 temporary assignments, in the last 6 years. You can claim for the tax releif on duty milage as also mentioned. Also if you have brought a car as a method of transport to get you to work and have any finance on this, you can also claim tax releif on the interest payments on the finance for that car.

nickdidsbury

Hi all - I have heard alot about claiming the tax back on GYH, and have just bitten the bullet and filled in a P87 covering periods going back to August 05, when I first started receiving GYH when i got married (another barking forces rule!). I live near Manchester and have been posted between Portsmouth, Plymouth and Faslane. I know guys from my previous ship who submitted P87s (can be downloaded from the HMRC website) for HTD and for GYH. I phoned the Tax office at Ty Glas - they said send in the completed forms and they'll call me if they need to, rather than try to explain the rules over the phone. However looking at the Website on the "tax relief for mileage" bit, it says:

What counts as business mileage?

Business mileage is mileage you travel doing your job. It can include travel to a temporary work place but it doesn't include:

• normal travel between home (or anywhere that is not a workplace) and your permanent workplace
• private travel

The underlined bit here is the key - and one of the previous posts mentioned it...as long as you're in post for less than 2 years, i think you're covered!

Anyway, i sent the forms in yesterday, the total difference between what the Pusser paid and Mileage allowance was some £10k. Even if I get 40%, still worth doing! I'll let you know how I go! Here's hoping