MMA Query 6 October 2009 at 10:08AM in UK armed forces MoneySaving 5 replies 700 views

dave1983_2

Hi all,

I went on a course in February of this year which I was able to take my own car and claim MMA at the private car rate - which I believe is 28.3p per mile? - but I have heard that it is possible to claim the tax back on the journey and, as it was for 934 miles round-trip, this could be quite a bit of cash!

Can anyone let me know if I've heard correctly that I can reclaim the tax and how I would go about doing this please?

Thanks,

David

snowball1972

Hope you had business insurance for your car!

dave1983_2

Yes I did - they were quite surprised when I presented the insurance certificate when they audited me! I think they're used to getting their money back at that point!

telboyo

If you are registered for self assessment you can claim 40 p per mile for car use, as you have on received 28 p you will get 12 p ish * 900 ish which is about 110 pounds ish

Muhasib

telboyo - that's incorrect advice unfortunately, it ain't £110.

The amount you can claim is the difference between what you get from your claim (say 28.3p per mile) and what HMRC say you can claim for a journey (40p). This you then claim via self assessment and what you get back is the tax relief at the rate you pay at your top slice - You DON'T get the difference of 11.7p per mile its more like 11.7p times 20% ie 2.34p per mile or at 40% (if lucky) which is 4.68p per mile.

If you do self assessment online it goes in the employment expenses section. If you don't do self assessment, go online to HMRC and search for a P87 form 'Tax relief for expenses of employment year ended 5 April 2009' (don't know if i'm allowed to put the link in), you can complete that and send back to your tax office.
Obviously the last thing to say is to keep records of your journeys and claims from your employer, as its JPA you can print off your previous claims anyway so no drama there.

Hope this helps

dave1983_2

Thanks everyone, it's looking like I should be able to claim back about £30!