Tax relief and mileage

Beverley

I currently work for a charity and am placed in a school 3 days per week. The school is classed as my base. If I have to travel to the charity venue, I claim mileage at 25p per mile.

A colleague is on sick leave and my line manager has offered some of her hours to other staff.

The round trip distance from my house to my colleague's venue is 63 miles but I would only be able to claim mileage from my base and so would only be claiming 38 miles at 25p.

Someone on the tax credits forum pointed me to this forum to ask about tax relief on mileage. I've read some posts on here and I *think* I should have been claiming tax relief of 15p per mile for the past 6 years employment - 20p after the new tax year starts.

Certainly, this would make it more worth my while to apply for the hours. Can anyone tell me if my thinking is correct and I can claim tax relief on the difference between the Govt mileage allowance and my employer's? And if so how do I go about doing this. (I don't complete a tax return usually as I just get my annual tax statement via my employer.) And if I can claim tax relief, can I apply for the tax relief that I should have claimed in previous years.

Just had another thought. Might it be that my employer declares this info so it has already been taken care of? - there's nothing to indicate this on my payslips but I just wondered about it.

John_Pierpoint

"I am employed on a master and servant contract by a charity. The charity pays me a wage and deducts tax under PAYE. This charity has placed me in a school for three days a week. The school is classed as my place of work".

Is that right?
In other words you have none of the badges of self employment and your job could not be said to have any of the badges of self employment. You work for a master and you do as you are told.
In principle your master should provide you with what you need to do your job - but seems to be a bit of a skinflint when it comes to a realistic figure for your unavoidable travel costs.
I would say that when you are required to attend a place that is not your normal place of work, then you are entitled to a tax free reimbursement of 40p a mile (current rate for first 10K miles). There are special rules for being required to attend a temporary extra/different place of work (even the tax man realises you cannot be expected to move at the drop of a hat in pursuit of your living).
As far as the reclaim for previous years, as I discovered the hard way, the commercial rules have a statute of limitation of 6 years but HMRC is a law unto itself. It is in the process of reducing its limit from 5 years and about 40 weeks to something much more current.
Google can find you the details and the HMRC web site has good search features. The rate of reduction is different for the PAYE people compared to the self employed, the latter are given less lee way - because they are responsible for messing up their own tax?!?:D
I am no expert on the ins and outs of taxes and allowances on car travel, so let us hope someone will be along who can quote you chapter and verse of the regulations.

John

Beverley

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

"I am employed on a master and servant contract by a charity. The charity pays me a wage and deducts tax under PAYE. This charity has placed me in a school for three days a week. The school is classed as my place of work".

Is that right?

Yes that's correct.

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

In other words you have none of the badges of self employment and your job could not be said to have any of the badges of self employment. You work for a master and you do as you are told.
In principle your master should provide you with what you need to do your job - but seems to be a bit of a skinflint when it comes to a realistic figure for your unavoidable travel costs.
I would say that when you are required to attend a place that is not your normal place of work, then you are entitled to a tax free reimbursement of 40p a mile (current rate for first 10K miles). There are special rules for being required to attend a temporary extra/different place of work (even the tax man realises you cannot be expected to move at the drop of a hat in pursuit of your living).
As far as the reclaim for previous years, as I discovered the hard way, the commercial rules have a statute of limitation of 6 years but HMRC is a law unto itself. It is in the process of reducing its limit from 5 years and about 40 weeks to something much more current.
Google can find you the details and the HMRC web site has good search features. The rate of reduction is different for the PAYE people compared to the self employed, the latter are given less lee way - because they are responsible for messing up their own tax?!?:D
I am no expert on the ins and outs of taxes and allowances on car travel, so let us hope someone will be along who can quote you chapter and verse of the regulations.

John

Thanks