Pizza Delivery, Claiming tax back using p87 - Confused

recci

Hi

Iv been working part time as a Delivery driver for a Dominoes Pizza franchise for the last 3.5 years. Iv been doing this due to being a full time student.

Anyway I recently found out that it may be possible to claim back some tax using the P87 form and I'm a bit confused as to how this would work. First off there is no record of exactly how many miles we do but we get paid the minimum wage fortnightly plus 80p per delivery for fuel given to us at the end of each shift in cash. The system if fully computerised so there is records of every delivery we have ever made in the database. Would we just take an average milage per delivery and base it on that then work out how much we are paid per mile from Dominoes? I would says it an average of about 5 or 6 miles round trip per delivery.

Iv been in this job 3.5 years and this is the first I have heard of being able to do this . Can I claim tax back for the entire time I have been working with them? If so how do I go about that? Just fill in more forms with the appropriate dates?

Also I have not been paying income tax the entire time as my hours have went up and down as study dictated so will this effect how much I'm due?

Anybody else in a similar situation? Who should I call for advice on this as I feel this may add up to significant amount of money!

thenudeone

I think you can claim overpaid tax for up to 6 years.

But you must have paid some tax before you can claim it back. Sounds obvious but people sometimes think they'll get it even if they are volunteering and have no income.
If your earnings were below the personal allowance you shouldn't have paid any tax so you won't be able to claim anything back.
You need to look at your overall position for the full tax year, not individual months, because if your income drops significantly you will get a refund of tax in later months.

HMRC give allowances at a certain (quite generous) rate per mile which changes frequently in line with fuel prices. It's probably around 45p currently.
If you complete a self-assessment form, these allowances come off your income before the tax is calculated. But the allowances will be reduced by what you receive from your employer. It's possible your tax code has already been adjusted to give an estimate of the allowance anyway - Look at your notice of coding.

I don't know whether they would accept broad estimates, since you are supposed to keep sufficiently detailed records to enable your tax situation to be calculated.

Here's a good place to start: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-mileage.htm

John_Pierpoint

Volunteers can claim off the organisation for which they are volunteering without running up a tax liability:
AMAP : Approved Mileage Allowance Payment
MAR : Mileage allowance rate (the term used when driver is not being paid the AMAP by a stingy organisation ahd is claiming the difference against income tax)

The higher rate will be increased to 45p per mile with effect from 6 April 2011. The rate will also apply to MAR. Volunteer drivers may reclaim the actual cost of motoring expenses from the relevant voluntary organisation as long as they keep records to demonstrate that no taxable profit has been made, but, for administrative ease, they are allowed to use the AMAPs rates if preferred. In addition to claiming AMAPs rates, an allowance for passenger payments currently in place for employees at 5p per passenger per mile will be extended to volunteers.