Mileage Rates for HP Cars

lukewillson

Hi Guys,

New poster looking for some help with my tax return. Think the most useful thing to do is explain my situation and assumptions thus far and you guys can tell me if they're true - Thanks in advance... 5hours on Google has been of no solid help.

I'm a self employed cameraman working mainly for 1 company but end up driving all over the country. Literally bang on the 6th of April 2010 I bought a new car on a Hire Purchase scheme from MINI BMW. I drove 19,000 miles in the 2010-2011 period. Am I eligible to claim mileage rates for that period? I think it makes more sense than the other methods of claiming vehicle allowances considering the amount of miles I do.

With my previous car I claimed all my MOT bills and other expenses because It was an old car. But with this new one there are no real bills.. its all covered. So the mileage system makes sense. And seeing as its a new car I understand I'm allowed to switch from my old method of claiming expenses to this new one.

Hope this all makes sense. If you need any more info just let me know.

Thanks in advance everyone. Really appreciate your advice

Luke

lukewillson

I've done some more Googling and I can't find anything that would indicate me or my car are not eligible for Mileage rates. If someone could just confirm this I'd really appreciate it. Thank you again.

jennifernil

According to this....

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-self-emp.htm

you can claim relief on business miles, but not of course your private mileage.

lukewillson

Thanks jennifernil. I'd of course stumbled over this but I was just checking that I didn't have to own the vehicle outright to be eligible. I don't think I do though.

jennifernil

As most people will use some type of credit to buy their car, I cannot see that it would matter. You are paying for the car and its running costs after all.

lukewillson

Thanks again. Nice to have someone confirm my assumptions.

mrkbrrws

The motor expenses can be calculated based on mileage rates as long as your turnover is below £70,000.

You can also include the HP interest for the year (less any private use %) as an allowable expense.

MonkeySaving?

lukewillson wrote: »

With my previous car I claimed all my MOT bills and other expenses because It was an old car.

I'm pretty sure you can't do this, the mileage allowances give tax relief on "using a personal car for business" i.e combined fuel/depreciation/servicing/mot etc at HMRC's quoted rates i.e 40p per mile up to 10000, 25p per mile above that.
There would be no way of differentiating an MOT between personal/business use, how have you claimed this through the system? As an "expense"?

puckoon14

MonkeySaving? wrote: »

... fuel/depreciation/servicing/mot etc at HMRC's quoted rates i.e 40p per mile up to 10000, 25p per mile above that.
...

As of 6th April 2011 the HMRC quoted rate has risen from 40p per mile to 45p for the first 10,000 miles. Still 25p per mile above that.
Go to HMRCs website and search for:

'Mileage expenses for business travel in employees' own vehicles'

I'm a new user on these forums so I can't post a direct link.

zygurat789

If you don't claim mileage you can claim depreciation - much better for a new car. All bills are then claimed less a pro-rata add back for private mileage