Use of own car for business use??

angrymama

Hi, could you please advise me on my rights. My employer took me on 2 years ago, with no contract of employment. She owns her own cleaning company but expects us to drive to clients homes, some as far as 12 miles away. She doesn't offer us travelling expenses, neither does she pay for the insurance to be increased for business use. I can use £25 - £30 per week just in petrol and my rate of pay doesn't relect this, as she has other members of staff that don't have access to a car, so the "drivers" are expected to drive them round to the different jobs at no cost to them and they are on the same rate of pay. Surely this isn't fair?

Angrymama

mustrum_ridcully

Not particularly reasonable. If I understand the system correctly you might be able to claim some of the money back from HMRC against the taxes you've paid as you incurred a legitimate business expense (I'm no tax expert BTW).

hc25036

Agree with Mustrum - it is a ridiculous situation and the nett cost to the employer of giving a mileage allowance can be claimed as a business expense against her corporation tax in any case.

You may be able to claim a tax allowance - details are here:

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

The only issue would be whether your travel is "to and from your normal place of work". A quick call to the helpline should answer that. This is intended to "top up" a mileage allowance from your employer however.

One thing is for sure - don't put up with it!

colino

There are so many things wrong with your employers approach I would be looking for a new job, not resolving the issues with this exploitative cheapskate.

bigjl

I believe you can claim 40ppm against your tax, though I haven't done so for many years so the figure may be inaccurate.

From memory you will only be able to claim for actual mileage used directly for work, not driving to your main place of employment.

I would consider a different employer as you are being treated unfairly in my opinion, you could always try and do Care work, as most decent care companies pay you a mileage allowance, normally set by the scheduling software that they use.

Hammyman

Don't forget that unless you've added business use to your insurance or the company cover your car under their policy, you're driving uninsured. "Commuting" part of a policy means to one place of work, not many.

flyingscotno1

bigjl wrote: »

I believe you can claim 40ppm against your tax, though I haven't done so for many years so the figure may be inaccurate.

From memory you will only be able to claim for actual mileage used directly for work, not driving to your main place of employment.

I would consider a different employer as you are being treated unfairly in my opinion, you could always try and do Care work, as most decent care companies pay you a mileage allowance, normally set by the scheduling software that they use.

Still 40p/per mile last time I used it. A fairly decent rate all in all.

olly300

As someone with business insurance on their car and self employed you can:
1. Claim 40 p per mile for the first 10,000 miles then 25p afterwards
2. Claim 5p per mile per work colleague you have to carry on the job.

You need to make sure you have business insurance for your car and need to keep a log of all journeys made.

As your employer is refusing to reimburse you as the others said look for a new job.

Otherwise every year you have to ring up HMRC and fill in a tax form to claim the money back. It's easy to do but a hassle.

olly300

flyingscotno1 wrote: »

Still 40p/per mile last time I used it. A fairly decent rate all in all.

It hasn't gone up for years.

JimmyTheWig

I don't know if it is obvious, but where people say you can claim 40p per mile, all you are actually getting is the tax back on 40p per mile. So if you're a basic rate tax payer you'll get back 8p per mile.

masterlumps

no you are right its not fair but your employer is getting away with it becasue you, and all the other employees have agreed to it, for 2 years