Need Help with Business Miles Relief

Smedders11

Hello all.

My girlfriend is a community care worker who drives to people's houses. She does about 85 miles every two weeks.

We're a bit confused about how to claim the expenditure back. Do we have to wait until the end of the tax year, and then tell HMRC what we think we're owed back? Or do we tell them now and they change her tax code accordingly?

Finally, anyone have insight into how accurate you'd need to be? We have no intention of deceiving or anything, but she drives to about 15 houses in a full work day. These are usually within, occasionally between, local boroughs. This makes it quite hard to work out the specific miles as the routes change weekly.

Thank you

LittleVoice

Is she self-employed? If not, why isn't her employer paying mileage?

Employers normally pay mileage and then there is nothing to claim from HMRC.

Smedders11

LittleVoice wrote: »

Is she self-employed? If not, why isn't her employer paying mileage?

Employers normally pay mileage and then there is nothing to claim from HMRC.

Her employer pays her 10ppm. I'm led to believe that the Government will pay the difference of 35ppm. Is that correct?

pebble17

You usually only get 10ppm if its a lease car.
Is it her own car?
Most employers pay around 47ppm for a car up to 1.6 engine.

In my experience of working in the community as self employed, I claim 47ppm from the organisation I work for and then claim 45ppm on to and from work journeys through the government and this is offset against my tax bill.
As far as I'm aware its only for self employed people

Smedders11

pebble17 wrote: »

You usually only get 10ppm if its a lease car.
Is it her own car?
Most employers pay around 47ppm for a car up to 1.6 engine.

In my experience of working in the community as self employed, I claim 47ppm from the organisation I work for and then claim 45ppm on to and from work journeys through the government and this is offset against my tax bill.
As far as I'm aware its only for self employed people

Yes it's her own car. It certainly isn't just for self-employed :P We're still paying our money for the privilege of working, so therefore the Government is obliged, up to a point, to subsidise some of that expenditure.

pebble17

I found this hmrc.gov.uk/forms/p87.pdf
It looks like the form that your girlfriend should fill in to claim the mileage allowance back
The forum won't let me post it as a link so i had to remove the www bit lol

NiceGuyEddie_2

Smedders11 wrote: »

Her employer pays her 10ppm. I'm led to believe that the Government will pay the difference of 35ppm. Is that correct?

Not quite, you get tax relief on the difference, rather than getting the difference itself.

TM1976

Smedders11 wrote: »

We're a bit confused about how to claim the expenditure back. Do we have to wait until the end of the tax year, and then tell HMRC what we think we're owed back? Or do we tell them now and they change her tax code accordingly?

You have to wait until the end of the tax year. You need to fill out a P87 form, unless the net cost to you (45p per mile less what your employer pays per mile x the number of business miles you did) is more than £2,500 when you will need to fill in a SA tax return.

Smedders11 wrote: »

Finally, anyone have insight into how accurate you'd need to be? We have no intention of deceiving or anything, but she drives to about 15 houses in a full work day. These are usually within, occasionally between, local boroughs. This makes it quite hard to work out the specific miles as the routes change weekly.

Easiest way is to keep a mileage log. You can claim on the basis of an estimate but at the very least you need to be able to justify how you arrived at your estimate, some real figures can help. HMR&C don't always ask for this but they do look out for estimates, a round sum figure (eg 7,000 miles) usually indicates an estimate.

wildman0609

TM1976 wrote: »

Easiest way is to keep a mileage log. You can claim on the basis of an estimate but at the very least you need to be able to justify how you arrived at your estimate, some real figures can help. HMR&C don't always ask for this but they do look out for estimates, a round sum figure (eg 7,000 miles) usually indicates an estimate.

its best to keep all receipts for fuel too.

System

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

Quote:

Records you must keep

You need to keep records of dates, mileage and details of all work journeys. Your employer needs this information to make expenses payments to you. You also need them to get any Mileage AllowanceRelief.

TM1976

ceiberman wrote: »

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

Quote:

Records you must keep

You need to keep records of dates, mileage and details of all work journeys. Your employer needs this information to make expenses payments to you. You also need them to get any Mileage AllowanceRelief.

This is what HMR&C would like you to do rather than what you absolutely must do. If you've got a record it helps though, but you don't need it keep petrol receipts as this has no bearing on the figure you are claiming for.