Working Out mileage expenses.

hubb

I am self employed and have traveled distances related to my work totaling 1898.8 miles in the 2010-11 tax year. How do I work this out ? I want this to be general expense including the usual maintenance etc.

One of my trips includes a run 74 miles to get my business PC fixed. Can this be included ?

Thanks.

Horace

Either you claim for the cost of your vehicle which includes general maintenance, petrol and depreciation or you claim mileage - you can't claim both.

Mileage is any miles travelled in the course of your business whether that be visiting clients or getting your work PC fixed. The mileage rate is currently 45p a mile for the first 10,000 and 25p per mile thereafter.

I tend to keep a little book in my car and set my trip meter to zero before I embark on a business trip (trip to place and back home) and then I note down the mileage.

hubb

Ok, thats great thanks. I did see on the HMRC website that they show it as 40p per mile. I am claiming for the tax year (Apr 2010-Apr 2011) Isn't 45p per mile for this tax year 2011-12 ?

Another thing, I am claiming fuel bills for working in my spare office room upstairs. I understand how to calculate by dividing the number of rooms etc but not sure about the fuel bills. I pay say £63 a month direct debit BUT I have been overpaying and been in credit which was refunded. Do I still use the figure £63 a month as my fuel outgoings ?

hubb

Can nobody help with this please ?

Suarez

hubb wrote: »

Another thing, I am claiming fuel bills for working in my spare office room upstairs. I understand how to calculate by dividing the number of rooms etc but not sure about the fuel bills. I pay say £63 a month direct debit BUT I have been overpaying and been in credit which was refunded. Do I still use the figure £63 a month as my fuel outgoings ?

Obviously not...

glasgowdan

I do believe you must apportion the domestic fuel use. So if the office room is used as an office 8hrs a day, that's 33% of the 24hr period. So multiply £63 by 33% giving £21 a month. Now this also must be multiplied by the % floor area of the office compared to the whole house, so if the office is 10% of the building floor space, you then multiply £21 a month by 20% giving £2.10 a month expense allowance. You can calculate the annual cost of fuel, whatever the DD is, and use that. Overall cost for comparison is 33% x 10%, or 3.3%.

Consider also that you may only use it 5 days a week, so the 3.3% must be multiplied by 5/7. Also if you only use it 48 weeks a year this should then be multiplied by 48/52.

This is what I was told anyway.

I am not sure how it works if the room is a full time office and you make no personal use of it at all... it may simply be all bills x 10%.

hubb

It's complex because I do hours here and there and not specifically 8 hours a day in one go. I also have my internet broadband bills (O2) which I put down as expenses though I sometimes browse the net for personal use but this is impossible to define and work out. Mostly, everything I do online relates to work in some way. Not sure to charge for BT line rental as I don't really use the phone for business but it's main use is for internet.

glasgowdan

You just need to make reasonable judgements and be able to explain how you came about them if asked.

heathcote123

hubb wrote: »

I am self employed and have traveled distances related to my work totaling 1898.8 miles in the 2010-11 tax year. How do I work this out ? I want this to be general expense including the usual maintenance etc.

One of my trips includes a run 74 miles to get my business PC fixed. Can this be included ?

Thanks.

Really might be an idea to speak to an accountant - they'll know the 'acceptable' amounts to put in for mileage, use of home, maintenance of work clothes, tea & coffee (& mileage in getting them), travel, postage, partners admin/receptionist wage,etc, etc.

If they're any good they'll save you much more than their fee, there's probably loads of stuff you haven't thought about that you can write off from profits.

And yes, getting your PC fixed is a valid expense, as is the mileage in getting there.