self assessment/claiming petrol help needed

kosma1

Hope I have posted in correct group?

basically, I work full time all tax etc done through employer.

I also have started door to door sales to boost my income and am now doing my first self assessment form.

My question is to do with claiming for petrol use. I have not kept receipts as i full car up, that is used to get me to normal place of work, pleasure etc, but, it is now also used for the door to door sales as in when order is delivered i have to get it to my mothers address, due to me being in work, so when delivered, i have to drive to hers to collect and bring home. can this be claimed? also, i am building a team so have now visited new recruits to sign up, help with training etc, can I also claim petrol on the journey to theirs and back? If i can claim, how do i work it out? think i have read somewhere if not actually getting tax relief on car, which i am not, i should be able to claim 40p per mile for mileage done in 2nd business? can anyone confirm if this is correct? Will they allow it as I did not keep receipts as those receipts were not purely for business? any advice greatly appreciated. thanks in advance

Notmyrealname

Claim mileage instead. It is easier to do and less likely to be challenged by the tax man.

jobbingmusician

Have a look at the thread on Mystery Shopping (a sticky) in the 'Up Your Income' section of this forum. Post 1 contains lots of useful info on self-employment.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

You'll have to work out the milage to your Mum's and how many times you did this journey to collet the delivery. Add that to the milage to each of your recruits (or milage loop if you did two or more in one journey). Then multiply by 45p to give your milage costs.

kosma1

thanks to you all for your replies, yes it is mileage i want to claim, just needed to check if I could and how much, thank you for letting me know it is 45p also, I can work out the mileage now and put forward an actual figure

heretolearn_2

error post removed

Sambucus_Nigra

heretolearn wrote: »

hi, yes it's simple enough to work out your estimated mileage for your self assessment.
It sounds as if you are expecting a payment of 45p a mile though. Thats not how it works, I'm afraid. basically you get the tax back on the amount, they don't pay for your petrol.

so if your 45p x miles adds up to say £100, if you are a basic rate taxpayer you'll get your 20% tax refunded, so £20.

You don't get your tax refunded, you get the £100 taken off the amount that you would pay tax on - on the separate business. So if the income was £500 then tax would be due on £400.

heretolearn_2

sorry i misread the OP, thought this was related to mileage from a PAYE job, not a self employment. Have removed my misleading post.

kosma1

sorry, last couple of posts have confused me.

I just thought I would work out the mileage at 45p per mile, then show that as an expense when doing self assessment, probably the only expenses I had for the period i need to do. my income is amount paid in goods, less actual amount to pay on invoice (because they deduct commission) leaves me a balance to show what income I have earnt, but due to mileage, was going to work out, for example, 10 mile round trip per month to be £4.50 based on info told, so my overall amount earnt will be less once mileage deducted? that is how i have done it, have only earnt a small amount, but hope i have worked it out correctly before sending it off, do not want to get into trouble for putting expenses in wrongly?

I do appreciate all the comments and help given, self assessment (your first one) is a little confusing, thanks to all who have helped so far

Sambucus_Nigra

kosma1 wrote: »

sorry, last couple of posts have confused me.

I just thought I would work out the mileage at 45p per mile, then show that as an expense when doing self assessment, probably the only expenses I had for the period i need to do. my income is amount paid in goods, less actual amount to pay on invoice (because they deduct commission) leaves me a balance to show what income I have earnt, but due to mileage, was going to work out, for example, 10 mile round trip per month to be £4.50 based on info told, so my overall amount earnt will be less once mileage deducted? that is how i have done it, have only earnt a small amount, but hope i have worked it out correctly before sending it off, do not want to get into trouble for putting expenses in wrongly?

I do appreciate all the comments and help given, self assessment (your first one) is a little confusing, thanks to all who have helped so far

No - your overall amount earnt is still your overall amount earnt. But you offset the mileage as a business expense and hence your resulting taxable amount is reduced.

Keep a log of all your income.

Keep a log of all your business expenses

When it comes to do your tax return, there are boxes for each and one offsets the other, giving you a taxable total.

Beware that this amount will be taxed and so keep money aside for this.

As JM said, read through the Mystery Shopping thread, there is excellent advice already written in detail on there.

kosma1

thank you all.

OK, am now completing form, I can see the extra boxes, not many i need to complete it seems and due to such a small amount, it seems I can add up my expenses in just one box.

so, before i finally finish it, I would be really grateful if i can just check I have completed correct boxes.

Firstly, it seems I have a (full) version of form to complete, I am assuming because this is first form I may get short version next time, as I am never going to earn more than 73k etc, and due to my very little business i don;t think i need to complete many of the boxes, however, this is what I have worked out, am just hoping if someone can advise if sounds correct, please note I am reading all advice, have read other sticky as suggested, am reading through the help book.......and wonder where they get the 'tax doesn't have to be taxing' slogan from? I am sorry if i sound stupid with my questions, but, it is not as easy as they make out when doing your first return.

OK. I have the business income actual turnover box, which I think i basically need to write down all the commission I have earnt (which is from my invoices so easy to get figure)

in total expenese it says if annual turnover less than 73k can add up and just ise box 30 for total figure rather than list individually ( I am talking a couple of hundred here for that tax year so way below) my expenses as mentioned are mileage, I have worked out total miles done @ £66.15 plus from reading up seems i can claim a percentage of broadband as I do a lot of computer based work for my business, this comes to £12.06 and was going to add those 2 figures together for expenses. I have kept a record and breakdown of how I have worked these out and keeping with my invoices.

It then seems i only then need to add the net profit box, would this then be my turnover, less expenses?

This is how I have read it from form and help book, and as i say, would really appreciate it if anyone can confirm this seems to be correct before submitting, HMRC is not something you want to get wrong