business mileage, self employed ?

stevekell6

hi i have done a search for this & all the posts i have found, are related to employed personnel.
on the self assessment form online, where do i input my business mileage as a sole trader ?
i have been searching for this for a while now & can't find it anywhere.
sorry if i have missed an earlier post, but i am stumped.
i know the rates are £0.40 for the 1st 10,000 miles & £0.25 thereafter, just need to know where the figures go.
.thanks.

chrismac1

Motoring expenses - along with road tax, repairs and maintenance, motor insurance.

stevekell6

if i put it there wont it only give me a 20% return on the 40p p/mile i am putting in ?

chrismac1

If you mean will the country pay you back 100% of the costs of running your car for business, sorry no it won't. But the country expects you to only pay tax on profits, and motoring costs are a valid expense deduction - providing the mileage you are claiming was on business travel and not the weekly trip to Tescos etc.

stevekell6

chrismac1 wrote: »

If you mean will the country pay you back 100% of the costs of running your car for business, sorry no it won't. But the country expects you to only pay tax on profits, and motoring costs are a valid expense deduction - providing the mileage you are claiming was on business travel and not the weekly trip to Tescos etc.

i'm not asking anybody to pay me 100% of my running costs or private mileage ! & instead of jumping to conclusions, if you can answer the question, then fair enough answer the question. i just want to know where i put the mileage i have used for business. if i can only get a return of 20%, then thats ok. so do i put in the amount of miles X 40p & get 8p p/mile ? its my 1st time filling in a self assessment form & i am just looking for guidance.

Gertie_Walker

All the expenses you include against your turnover reduces the tax due.
If you have done 10,000 miles, then the amount to be shown in your accounts is 10,000 x 40p = £400. This means that you will not pay tax on £400-worth of your income.

stevekell6

Gertie_Walker wrote: »

All the expenses you include against your turnover reduces the tax due.
If you have done 10,000 miles, then the amount to be shown in your accounts is 10,000 x 40p = £400. This means that you will not pay tax on £400-worth of your income.

cheers gertie, but again if i put on my expenses 10,000 x 40p = £4000. wont they only give me back 20% of the £4000 which is £800. if i am allowed the full £4000 is there somewhere else for me to input the mileage ?
ie, if i buy a lock for £20 & claim the tax back for the lock i used on a job my expense would be £20 x 20% & i would get £4 offset against my tax.
or am i getting it wrong & supposed to just put the £4 as my expenses. so that would mean if i did 1 lock £20 & 10 miles i would put down £8. sorry about this but i am half way through my s/a & have hit a wall.

antrobus

I think that the answer you are looking for is that you don't have to enter the business mileage anywhere on your self assessment form online. You just need to enter the result of your calculation as 'Motoring expenses'.

Gertie_Walker

Antrobus is right, but also see my previous post - HMRC are not going to repay you anything becasue you have not yet paid tax on this years profits. BY entering £4000 in your accounts for motoring expenses, you are going to REDUCE your tax bill by £800. The government does not repay your business expenses to you, you only get relief from tax!

hopefulfooluk

stevekell6 wrote: »

cheers gertie, but again if i put on my expenses 10,000 x 40p = £4000. wont they only give me back 20% of the £4000 which is £800.

Yes. £800 will be knocked off your final tax bill effectively.

The mileage comes off your TAXABLE PROFITS as an expense.

Example:

Your business makes £10k per year. You drive 10000 miles = £4k mileage. Your business's net profit would therefore be £6k, which is then taxed at the going rate for you.

The government are hardly going to give you £4k for your mileage as if they did that, they'd end up paying YOU money if your profits were negligible.