Childminders and car expence..

gabyjane

Hi I have been told that as a childminder we can only claim the 40p per mile? is this correct as i have seen you can claim the wear and tear of the car for other types of job...anyone know? thanks.

jennifernil

Is someone actually paying you the 40p? I think you need to give a little more information for people to be able to help you.

gabyjane

jennifernil wrote: »

Is someone actually paying you the 40p? I think you need to give a little more information for people to be able to help you

No i put claiming the 40p as in setting it against my tax when i do my expences...i was wondering if this is all we can claim for and not the car bits and bobs aswell..i.e tax, wear and tear, cleaning it etc.

gsnelli

Hi,

The 40p per mile relates to business use of your own vehicle.

Approved mileage rates from the HMCE website :-
From 2002/03 First 10,000 business miles in the tax year = 40p
Each business mile over 10,000 in the tax year = 25p

If your company pays more than these agreed rates, then you should declare the difference {e.g. company pays 50p p mile, agreed rate = 40p, therefore 10p per mile over rate should be declared}

These rates are supposed to include wear & tear etc.....humm....

jennifernil

Are you using the car to go to your place of work? For an employee, that is not normally an allowable expense. But if you are self employed then the rules are different. I think you need to ask the tax office or your accountant what you are allowed to claim.

SonniC55

Gaby
Sounds to me your completing a self assessment return is this so?

You should be able to claim ALL costs associated to motoring in this case inc
petrol, servicing, insurance, misc costs and even the interest charged on any loans taken to purchase the vehicle, in addition to capital allowance on the capital value of the car.

However HMRC will want to see that your not taking the mick! the official line is that you should only claim the business element of these costs and should therefore add back any personal usage on your self assessment return

eg say you had £5000 in motorig costs in a year but also used the car for personal use. using an average calculation on miles travelled you find that 60% is business use and 40% personal - this means you need to add back £2000 as PU this claiming £3000 against earnings.

If your completing self assessment returns best advice is get an accountant they may appear pricey but a good one will save you more than thier fee in tax

gabyjane

Hi thanks for the reply. Yes i will be doing my self assesment in April and was unclear on this bit! I called the tax office and the woman said i can claim against the car, she wasn't entirely sure what but said i should download the form and it's pretty easy!
If it asks me for a % of what's business and personal use how do i work this out? hours used weekly etc? any help appreciated.Thanks

jennifernil

I think it is normally done on distance travelled. E.g. if you travel 8000 miles per year in your car and 2000 of it is in connection with your business then you can claim tax relief on 25% of the costs. You may be asked to produce receipts, so be careful what you claim for.

I'm not sure if this applies now, but it used to be that if you were claiming for the depreciation of the vehicle, if you made a "profit" when you sold it then you got taxed on it, so be careful.