Tax relief on business mileage

TykeUK

I never actually filled in a P87 - I originally filled in a tax review form last September which triggered the enquiries about my contract etc.

From sending in the short tax return I was eventually sent it's taken less than two weeks to get the self assessment tax calculation back showing I'd been allowed the tax relief.

zorber

nej wrote:

Regarding the "travelling to work" bit, I used to be field-based but for the past 18 months or so I've been office based. But, my contract still lists my place of work as my house.

Can I claim the trips to the office every day as business mileage?

Yes if your listed place of work is home then you can but better to get advise from an accountant

wonka

I may be wrong, but I have a feeling that the Inland Revenue will occasionally judge for themselves whether you're home-based or not, regardless of your contract of employment.

It's all down to their definition of your place of work. If you are working in the same location day-in-day-out, and commuting there, then that is deemed as your workplace. And consequently, the travel to your workplace is considered to be commuting mileage, NOT business mileage.

I remember a mate of mine, who is a Computer contractor, telling me a couple of years ago about this. He tends to work on-site for say 12 months, then his contract ends and he goes working on another site for another 12 months, etc. He was advised by his accountant that he couldn't claim business mileage for travelling to these customers. He was, understandably, miffed.

It also provokes debate about what exactly constitutes a place of work. What if you work in a location 4 days a week. What if you work somewhere for, say, just a month. I don't think any thresholds have been suggested, I think it's just a judgement call.

Like I say, I may be wrong, but I've heard about this issue from a few different sources.

cash99

The rules on claiming travel expenses can be found here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM32000.htm

If you regularly ( could be as little as 1 day per week) attend one place of work, then regardless of what your contract says, it is a permanent place of work and travel to it from home is considered ordinary commuting, and not tax deductible.

The only occassion when this would not be the case is if the work place was considered a temporary work place. The rules on this can be found above.

For contractors working through their own ltd company a contract of less than two years based at a customers premises will most likley be a temporary workplace.

The HMRC manual above contains lots of examples so you may be able to work out your own position, otherwise seek professional advice.

wonka

Blimey! I never realised this was such a complex area!

I've just spent an hour reading this manual and I'm still no clearer as to whether I can claim my trips (from my home-base) into the office as business travel.

For my circumstances, some of the relevant sections contradict each other, so I shall just have to see if the IR take me to task...

beezy

Can some one help me?

How often are allowed to claim in one year?

Does it have to be completed as one form on a year to year basis or can i claim more often?

Savvy_Sue

wonka wrote:

Interesting you say that... I've asked on a couple of occasions if I could go back to the tax return, and was told I couldn't. But I've not had much confidence in the people I've spoken to over the phone. I think it's worth asking again, might even insist and see what they say.

Surely they've got to send you a tax return if you ask for one, if you say "I've got some extra income to declare how are you going to tax me on it if I don't declare it?" Doesn't matter whether you have or haven't got that extra income, you'd soon be in trouble if you didn't declare it when you had it, IYSWIM!

flossy_splodge

I would like to offer my experience of the IR. Having just completed my very first self assessment I had a number of queries. Before I needed to fill it in I went on a Business Link training course (one day and FREE) actually presented by a current IR officer. Explained clearly what was and wasn't permitted, even offered some suggestions of things that were tax deductable that none of us were likely to have thought of. Then on the day I chose to fill it in spent a bit of time on the phone using the number on the self assessment support sheets. Found the IR to be superb. Offered help way over and above and very pleasant and courteous with it. Only government body I've EVER dealt with that has left me impressed and truly believing they wanted to help ME. Try going direct to the horses mouth so to speak or contact your local Business Link for a name they know is someone who will be helpful and KNOWLEDGEABLE! Latter being quite important!! Good Luck.

billywhizz

wonka wrote:

Blimey! I never realised this was such a complex area!

I've just spent an hour reading this manual and I'm still no clearer as to whether I can claim my trips (from my home-base) into the office as business travel.

No - sorry!

stevo84_2

not sure if you can clain 40p a mile if you are supplied with a fuel card...?