tax relief on petrol used for work when earnings are below tax threshold

traybelin

Hi
I am a community care worker and I use our family car to do care calls to peoples' houses and travel about 10-15 miles per day, paying for my own petrol. I regularly take other carers with me when we have to do two-person care calls. I have complained a LOT about having to pay for my own petrol when doing care calls and the company just tell me to claim it back at the end of the year as tax relief. They have told me also that I can claim for phone calls used for work (which are many) and washing uniform etc
The problem I have is that I earn so little - I work part time for about £6.50 an hour - I won't actually have to pay tax this year. It seems that I won't be able to get any money for the petrol that I use every day, which feels like a double whammy!
Is there anything I can do about this (don't say get another job - it's in progress as we speak!)
Thanks for any advice you can offer.

McKneff

Common sense tells me that you can only get tax releif if you pay tax.

Why do you have to make telephone calls, can you not put these through as expenses.

Sambucus_Nigra

When you take off the telephone calls and petrol - are you paid under NMW and are you actually paying to work there?

Thriftkitten

Hi sorry to hijack thread, but have similar question, I am paid 20p per mile by my agency and told to claim back the other 25p from P87 form, can you tell me when this has to go by or no earlier than plz, also claiming for self wash of uniform and anything else but am a little unsure what to write on nthe form, my milage for the job for the year is currently at 2596.49 miles
Would the government pay me the 25p per mile and uniform wash in the form of a cheque, or would I not pay any tax next year until I reached that amount work, fyi I will be finishing at this job on the 1st of may.
Sorry to post here, but thought it better rather than starting another thread about a similar query.

Sambucus_Nigra

Thriftkitten wrote: »

Hi sorry to hijack thread, but have similar question, I am paid 20p per mile by my agency and told to claim back the other 25p from P87 form, can you tell me when this has to go by or no earlier than plz, also claiming for self wash of uniform and anything else but am a little unsure what to write on nthe form, my milage for the job for the year is currently at 2596.49 miles
Would the government pay me the 25p per mile and uniform wash in the form of a cheque, or would I not pay any tax next year until I reached that amount work, fyi I will be finishing at this job on the 1st of may.
Sorry to post here, but thought it better rather than starting another thread about a similar query.

No - the government do not pay you the difference! They let you claim tax relief on the difference so essentially you are not paying tax on the additional 25p.

traybelin

There was no mention of anything being anyone's fault in my post! I make calls because often I have to phone the office about work, to gain access to properties etc. There is no "expenses" facility other than claiming tax relief, not possible if you do not earn enough to pay tax. Does it not seem immoral that if I was paid more I could get a contribution towards petrol but because the pay is so low, I cannot?

Sambucus_Nigra

traybelin wrote: »

There was no mention of anything being anyone's fault in my post! I make calls because often I have to phone the office about work, to gain access to properties etc. There is no "expenses" facility other than claiming tax relief, not possible if you do not earn enough to pay tax. Does it not seem immoral that if I was paid more I could get a contribution towards petrol but because the pay is so low, I cannot?

Yes it does - the business costs associated should be reimbursed and not funded by yourself otherwise - well - you are subsidising the business. So again, does the cost of fuel and phone calls negate your wages to an extent that it's not financially viable to work there? I think if you did the calcs you might find you are spending a huge wedge out of your wages just to be at work.

ps - nobody mentioned it being anyone's fault - that is a 'signature' not a comment on your particular situation.

traybelin

It's difficult to say. I phoned head office and asked why I should pay my own petrol costs to do their calls. They said "if we paid everyone's petrol we would never make a profit" which I found rather odd. They are paid £17 for each hour whereas we are officially paid £6.75. But we are not paid for travel time between calls. On average for every 4 hours you are out doing calls, you are paid for 3.5 hours. But the amount you get paid depends on how long the call is, so for a 15 min call you are paid £2.58 I think, for half an hour call £3.78 or something and for a one hour call £6.75 ....
Really, what I wanted to know was whether there was any way around the not being able to claim tax back for petrol when I don't earn enough to pay tax... but I think there just isn't

Sambucus_Nigra

Well; that shows you doesn't it! They are happy to let you 'not make a profit' but not for themselves, even though they are getting nearly 3 times as much per hour as you.

maninthestreet

So how much money are you spending on petrol each week in order to perform your work duties?

VfM4meplse

From what I hear this scenario (and a lack of guaranteed shifts) is a prroblem with the whole care industry.

In your position, I would buy a bike and negotiate the travel time into your pay.