Mileage / Hire Car / Tax!

dazzak_2

Hi,

am after some advice. In my job I need to do some travelling some of which is by car claiming business mileage - I've now got a new destination starting next week. After deducting my normal commute mileage the remaining (excess) miles are claimed as business mileage @ 40ppm = which I currently work out will be £35 per day x 4 days per week. Now I don't fancy putting the mileage on my own car, so I was thinking about hiring a car from Avis (on a long term rental i.e. for like 30 continous days) with my companys discount codes and then just claiming the business mileage as if it was my own private car - I would not be expensing the hire car to my company in any way (I would be paying from my own pocket etc). I've worked out that the business mileage would cover the hire car cost and some of the fuel.

Is this illegal? Or can I get taxed on this as if it was a company car?

Any help/advice appreciated.

Thanks

Darren

Andy_L

It's legal, however your companies mileage policy may not let you do it

dottylotty

how would they know you were claiming against a hire car though

dont see how it would matter, after all you are still travelling "x" amount of miles that are being claimed against. OR is it that you get extra ppm because of the damage it does to your own car?

All I have to do is fill in a form with miles Ive travelled and hand receipt in with this, doesnt say anywhere what car I should be using

mluton

I never had any problems using a hire car for work when my car was in for a service. Same thing.

Pennywise

You need to check your employer's policy statements. Your employer is liable for any injuries you suffer whilst travelling on company business, so needs to ensure that you are complying with their policies for H&S etc. There are far more implications for the company than just paying 40p per mile. You may find that you're in breach of your contract of employment and could be disciplined.

askakd

Pennywise wrote: »

You need to check your employer's policy statements. Your employer is liable for any injuries you suffer whilst travelling on company business, so needs to ensure that you are complying with their policies for H&S etc. There are far more implications for the company than just paying 40p per mile. You may find that you're in breach of your contract of employment and could be disciplined.

pennywise -please explain your rational behind the last statement, how can you be in breach of contract/disiplined for hiring a car?

the employer's liability is the same for own car or hire car, you could argue, as the hire care would (could) be newer than own car, that the employer's liability is decreased

sunshinetours

If your company is asking you to travel on company business using your own car and is paying you 40ppm, then aside from ensuring you are covered by your own car insurance i cannot see that whether you use your own car, a hire car or someone else's car (with their permission of course!) is of any relevance. Sounds like an expensive option however,can't believe that hiring a car is cheaper than the likely depreciation on yoru own car?

anniecave

At our company we are allowed to either
hire a car, and claim the hire costs back and the petrol/diesel we put in there back
or
use our own car, and claim mileage

on the mileage claim form we have to specify what car we have used and we have to fill in a declaration for any car we claim mileage on stating that it is our own, we have business insurance on it, it's in good condition, has been serviced, etc etc

by all means check your policy - they may let you do the first option if you don't want to use your personal car

cash99

dazzak wrote: »

After deducting my normal commute mileage the remaining (excess) miles are claimed as business mileage @ 40ppm

Assuming the trip qualifies as business travel then you can claim tax relief on the whole journey, including the distance covered in your normal commute.

anniecave

tax relief is different to claiming mileage!

On the mileage situation though...

If your business travel route is different (like in the other direction or a completely different route) to your normal commute then you don't have to deduct the normal commute mileage off - you can claim the full mileage.

If you go (fairly literally) past your normal place of work to go on the business journey, then start off the business mileage from your work point.

Reverse for the return journey.

Hope that makes sense! There are some pages on the HMRC website which explain this.

cash99

anniecave wrote: »

tax relief is different to claiming mileage!

On the mileage situation though...

If your business travel route is different (like in the other direction or a completely different route) to your normal commute then you don't have to deduct the normal commute mileage off - you can claim the full mileage.

If you go (fairly literally) past your normal place of work to go on the business journey, then start off the business mileage from your work point.

Reverse for the return journey.

Hope that makes sense! There are some pages on the HMRC website which explain this.

You are quite right that tax relief is different to claiming mileage. The HMRC website deals with tax relief and not mileage claiming, so your post is a little confused.

Mileage claiming is subject to whatever the employer policy says it is and quite a few don't require normal commuting mileage to be deducted from business trips.