ordinary commute to work

deborahatmar

i work in the community, providing respite care for carers. At the moment we get paid 40p per mile from home, during our working day and back to our homes, we also get paid travel time, commuting from one place to the next. Our trustees keep banging on about the HMRC's "ordinary commute" regulations, and are trying to withdraw 6 miles out and 6 miles home paid millage away from us. Does anyone know any ways round this. These work places are not permanent places of work and visits at these places of work vary between 2hr visits and on an average of 6hrs, they can be overnight visits

property.advert

Tell these duffers whatever you have to in order to get your costs. Bean counters like this are the scum of the earth.

Quenastoise

The general principle is that tax relief is not available from home to the place of work. If you travel from your home to your client's home then there is an element of private travel that needs to be deducted. The alternative would be for your employer to ask you to travel from home to the office (private travel not attracting relief) then from the office to the client's home (eligible travel), which clearly would be a bit of nonsense.

The duration of the visit and its timing is irrelevant when considering travel arrangements.

Please remember that the Revenue themselves consider that 40p is a reasonable rate, that's the maximum that they will pay their own staff and the maximum that they will give relief to (subject to some limits on miles incurred). I actually don't think that it's too bad a deal when you look at it that way. Like your Trustees have said, there is nothing that they can do about the existing tax rules.

deborahatmar

but i am gonna actually go out to work 5 miles away then home and not get any millage...is this fair? i could walk but their are not street lights nor pathways i live in rural settings within a small village

Quenastoise

If you work in dom care, I expect that you are working with a variety of clients within various distances of your home. If they were all within the 6 miles radius, yes, the 6 miles deduction would be unfair but in practical terms, it looks like the average distance for all your journeys is in excess of 6 miles ?

wealdroam

deborahatmar wrote: »

but i am gonna actually go out to work 5 miles away then home and not get any millage...is this fair?

It really depends on where your normal place of work is.
As said above, you get no mileage when travelling from your home to your normal place of work.

Yes, it is fair. Lots of people travel five or more miles from home to work and back and get no mileage pay for it.

deborahatmar

thats fine, i agree, but care is needed 24hrs a day, i maybe backwards and forwards from home to work to home upto 5 times a day. if like most i went to an office, shop or similar than thats fine. i maybe out 9am to 12pm, home out 2 till 4 then home out 6pm till 11pm

Quenastoise

The deduction is a daily one, if you go out to a client in the morning, come home and go out again, the employer should only be deducting one lot of 6 miles

wealdroam

I don't think your employer can arbitarily pick a point six miles from your home and say "that's your normal place of work".

Might be an idea to pose this question on a tax board.
Although your question isn't really about tax.
Your employer is just saying that they are not going to pay the first [STRIKE]six[/STRIKE] twelve miles you do every day.

If they were to pay for every mile travelled, they might well find themselves in discussions with HMRC about where your place of employment was.
But of course that's not their real concern... just an excuse. They just want to save money.

But ultimately, you and your employer need to agree the rules that you are both going to work to.

lazer

As another point - it was announced in todays budget that the HMRC mileage allowance is increasing to 45p a mile

spiro

Do they have an office near you?
If so how far is it from you house?
Also what does your contract of employment say you 'office' is (this is important for tax purposes), does it say 13 High Street, Sometown or does it say 'Homebased'?

The answesr to the above will allow the correct asnwer in terms of tax to be provided.