Mileage allowance for business miles - why do I need receipts?

[Deleted User]

Accountant says I do. I'm flat rate VAT registered so I cant reclaim any VAT on purchases and I just claim 45p mile for any business miles.

Apparently, I've still got to prove I did physically put fuel in the car. How else is it going to work?

I go to the same client site every day (at the moment) and claim mileage (from my office address) for this. If the HMRC were that bothered they could work out the mileage for themselves from office to client site surely !!!!!

HappyMJ

It's only to prove you actually did do the miles. Some people claim 10,000 miles per year but only fill up the car every few months and the MOT service records might only prove 5,000 miles and they get the bus at £1 per journey instead. It's just for proof.

[Deleted User]

HappyMJ wrote: »

It's only to prove you actually did do the miles. Some people claim 10,000 miles per year but only fill up the car every few months and the MOT service records might only prove 5,000 miles and they get the bus at £1 per journey instead. It's just for proof.

How does it prove anything though? It might not even be my car I'm filling up....

I could work from home, claim 20 miles a day, fill the car up and then use the mileage at the weekend. They'd be none the wiser.

HappyMJ

[quote=[Deleted User];45188628]How does it prove anything though? It might not even be my car I'm filling up....

I could work from home, claim 20 miles a day, fill the car up and then use the mileage at the weekend. They'd be none the wiser.[/QUOTE]
Exactly...I don't know either but yes I do that too. Round up a few journeys by taking the shortest, cheapest route yet claim the miles from google maps using the quickest route and then I use it on the weekend instead.

Premier_2

I think your accountant is getting confused, or is mis-communicating the requirements..

You need to maintain a record of what journeys were undertaken (date, to/from, distance, etc); you can't just claim 10,000 miles per year.

You don't need petrol receipts except for VAT. As you are vat registered, you are allowed to reclaim the vat on the petrol portion of the 45p allowance. But this doesn't apply to you as you don't need receipts as you don't reclaim vat on anything - you use the flat rate scheme instead.

The petrol receipts don't prove you did use the vehicle on company business.
The vat receipts may not have been obtained by you and they may not even relate to the same vehicle.
It simply proves vat was paid on fuel purchases.

The issue you may ultimately have is one of is the travel reclaimable at all; it sounds like it may be commuting rather than business travel ... but that would depend on the exact circumstances.

pitkin2020

I agree with premier, you either claim mileage by logging date, reason and distance or you claim back the fuel by submitting receipts. As already stated the receipts mean nothing if you are claiming mileage and they won't prove anything should you be investigated. They will use things like the MOT etc for proof of mileage if you were ever to be investigated so just make sure you not claiming 10k every year and the car is only doing 5k lol.

I would go back to the accountant and ask him to explain his reason more clearly, there maybe another reason for the fuel receipts that isn't obvious right now. It maybe more related to cash flow etc than just the mileage expenses.

Horace

You could always keep a little book in the car to record your mileage. I tend to put date, who I am going to see and the mileage covered (thank goodness for having two trip meters in the car):D

terra_ferma

When I used an umbrella company they requested fuel receipts for some reason, but my accountant (and all the information I've come across, including attending a HMRC course), did not mention keeping receipts.

Premier_2

terra_ferma wrote: »

When I used an umbrella company they requested fuel receipts for some reason, but my accountant (and all the information I've come across, including attending a HMRC course), did not mention keeping receipts.

The umbrella company was probably registered for vat and not using the flat rate scheme, so vat receipts are required to cover the vat content of the fuel element of the mileage allowance (in order to reclaim it)

scheming_gypsy

My umbrella company want receipts as well and somebody suggested that it could be for them to offset against their VAT bill?