Claiming vat on private car used for business

CARLYBOY

Having looked through the HMRC website it appears possible to claim VAT back for repairs to a private vehicle that is used for business purposes. However the website does not make it clear how to do this.
I am an employee and use my own car in lieu of a company car. I claim the mileage allowance via the HMRC P87 form.I am not registered for VAT.
Have I understood the HMRC website correctly and if so how would I go about claiming the VAT for car repairs.... Just been stung for over £1000 in repair bills and just as the Xmas bills start to roll in.....Ouch!!!!

heretolearn_2

sorry but you can only reclaim VAT if you are VAT registered.

On claiming relief for expenses, if you are already claiming the mileage relief that is intended to cover all expenses, including repairs and maintenance, you can't claim on top.

Can you post a link to the info you saw so we can clarify it for you?

thenudeone

The mileage allowance is calculated to cover all the costs of running a car including insurance, repairs, and VAT. If your employer pays you this amount they can actually claim part of the rate as VAT and reclaim it from HMRC. You can't claim VAT back from HMRC.

It is possible (but rarely used) to use the actual costs of running a vehicle in your tax return instead of the agreed rates (which are just designed to make things simple given the thousands of people who claim mileage expenses) but IMO the rates are quite generous and unless you are running a high-status car for business purposes (eg: in the entertainment industry) you would be unlikely to be better off on that basis.

BoGoF

thenudeone wrote: »

It is possible (but rarely used) to use the actual costs of running a vehicle in your tax return instead of the agreed rates (which are just designed to make things simple given the thousands of people who claim mileage expenses) but IMO the rates are quite generous and unless you are running a high-status car for business purposes (eg: in the entertainment industry) you would be unlikely to be better off on that basis.

Only self employed people can claim the actual costs, employees can only claim the AMAP rates and this has been the case since 2002-03 tax year.

CARLYBOY

This is the paragraph from the HMRC website

Reclaiming VAT on repairs and maintenance

You can reclaim all the VAT you're charged on repairs and maintenance to a vehicle so long as:

• the vehicle is used to some extent for business purposes
• the business pays for the work to be done

It doesn't matter if the car is used for private motoring or if you've decided not to reclaim the VAT on road fuel for business travel.
But you can't reclaim the VAT on vehicle repairs and maintenance if you use the vehicle only for your own private motoring.

CARLYBOY

The page address is as follows with the http and www bits removed as a newbie the site will not allow me to post links;
hmrc.gov.uk/vat/managing/reclaiming/motoring.htm

BoGoF

Unfortunately that relates to VAT registered business'