self employed status for volunteer driving help

cajun2099

Hi new to forum not really sure if this is the right section to ask this question, but what i want to know is. currently i do volunteer driving and get pence per mile. now there are rules already where you may have to pay tax on you allowances depending on how many miles and profit you may make. But i want to know if i register as self employed say just as a "driver" and then put all the mileages and journeys through as my business? i dont see it being overly diffrent from ppm self employed courier drivers?

thanks for any help

specialboy

If its. Business then you aren't volunteering are you? If you are volunteering you should not be making any profit otherwise you will need your insurance altering

cajun2099

is taking people in and out of hospital we get a milage allowance per mile which is more than what it costs to travel the mile so if you do enough miles you can make a profit tho we are not employed just classed as volunteers and the insurance does not need to be changed as long as you ins company is aware of what you are doing

marybelle01

cajun2099 wrote: »

is taking people in and out of hospital we get a milage allowance per mile which is more than what it costs to travel the mile so if you do enough miles you can make a profit tho we are not employed just classed as volunteers and the insurance does not need to be changed as long as you ins company is aware of what you are doing

You are missing several points.

Your mileage allowance also contributes towards wear and tear, insurance, service, etc.

And if you become self employed it will be business mileage, at which point you must register with HMRC, declare income, do accounts, and your "profit" gets added to other income for tax. At which point you must also declare this as your business to your insurer. And you may also require a private hire licence if this is your business.

I'm not sure that you understand the ethics of volunteering. It is not for you to make a profit or make into a business. If you feel that you are being paid more than you need, perhaps you could donate it to charity instead of trying to work out how to make even more? If you covenant the payments the charity can reclaim any tax on them.

getmore4less

AIUI You need to inform your insurance it is not covered by standard policies even if not for profit.

What mileage do you think is taxed/not taxed?

What are these rules you speak of?

CrazyRed

I do this very job myself.

You are current being paid a mileage rate that is the same as the allowed vehicle expense rate for using your own car for business purposes by the Tax Office. As far as taxation law is concerned, we do not make any form of 'profit' from carrying out this work.

I keep very careful records of my car's running costs and can assure you that, when all expenses (depreciation, tyres, insurance, servicing, repairs, fuel, RFL, cleaning etc.,) are taken into consideration and averaged over the year's mileage, the rate paid actually reflects true costs, and no element of profit is made [don't forget, there is a degree of expectation assumed by this job in regards to the presentation of the vehicle - keeping the car clean and presentable brings with it an additional cost that needs to be factored in to any calculations]. With a 16 year old car, my expenses are around 30-95p per mile (depends on what repairs/servicing she's required in the month) - if your car is relatively modern, you'll have depreciation to take into account, the additional cost of which will easily put you over the 45p/mile you are collecting from the client.

Insurance : The odd company may insist on changing you to Class 1 business cover, but the majority that I have experienced are happy to provide cover under SDP & Commuting for this work.

You do not need to register as self-employed, in fact to do so would prove counterproductive due to the admin overhead required.

Nebulous2

The inland revenue have set mileage rates that you are allowed without keeping any records. These apply to volunteers as well as employees. You need to check it for yourself, but basically you are 'allowed' 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles.

See: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/mileage/volunteer-drivers.htm

cajun2099

marybelle01 wrote: »

You are missing several points.

Your mileage allowance also contributes towards wear and tear, insurance, service, etc.

And if you become self employed it will be business mileage, at which point you must register with HMRC, declare income, do accounts, and your "profit" gets added to other income for tax. At which point you must also declare this as your business to your insurer. And you may also require a private hire licence if this is your business.

I'm not sure that you understand the ethics of volunteering. It is not for you to make a profit or make into a business. If you feel that you are being paid more than you need, perhaps you could donate it to charity instead of trying to work out how to make even more? If you covenant the payments the charity can reclaim any tax on them.

the original question was can i use this as a basis for a business? so yes i would want to declare income, do accounts etc, im not sure why you feel the need to be snarky with me as i want to be legit and do this full time, i just wanted to advice on the right way to go about legitimizing myself. i know some taxi firms operate on exactly the same pencer per mile scheme as us "volunteers", however i would like to not register as a taxi driver if possible.

cajun2099

CrazyRed wrote: »

I do this very job myself.

You are current being paid a mileage rate that is the same as the allowed vehicle expense rate for using your own car for business purposes by the Tax Office. As far as taxation law is concerned, we do not make any form of 'profit' from carrying out this work.

I keep very careful records of my car's running costs and can assure you that, when all expenses (depreciation, tyres, insurance, servicing, repairs, fuel, RFL, cleaning etc.,) are taken into consideration and averaged over the year's mileage, the rate paid actually reflects true costs, and no element of profit is made [don't forget, there is a degree of expectation assumed by this job in regards to the presentation of the vehicle - keeping the car clean and presentable brings with it an additional cost that needs to be factored in to any calculations]. With a 16 year old car, my expenses are around 30-95p per mile (depends on what repairs/servicing she's required in the month) - if your car is relatively modern, you'll have depreciation to take into account, the additional cost of which will easily put you over the 45p/mile you are collecting from the client.

Insurance : The odd company may insist on changing you to Class 1 business cover, but the majority that I have experienced are happy to provide cover under SDP & Commuting for this work.

You do not need to register as self-employed, in fact to do so would prove counterproductive due to the admin overhead required.

understand your point i know i can make my own national insurance contribution and the taxation of the mileages if any profit made but if i'm not registered as self employed and just technically a volunteer driver then i dont exist from things like credit tax getting a mortgage etc surely

marybelle01

cajun2099 wrote: »

the original question was can i use this as a basis for a business? so yes i would want to declare income, do accounts etc, im not sure why you feel the need to be snarky with me as i want to be legit and do this full time, i just wanted to advice on the right way to go about legitimizing myself. i know some taxi firms operate on exactly the same pencer per mile scheme as us "volunteers", however i would like to not register as a taxi driver if possible.

If your business is carrying people then you are expected to have a private hire licence and to be covered for that on your insurance - which is exceptionally expensive.


As a volunteer, you are "legit". If you wish to be a full-time taxi driver then you must abide by the laws of that industry.


But I see what you want now. If, instead of being an unemployed volunteer, you can claim to be in a full-time business, then you can claim in work benefits - you think. That is not going to happen. You are a volunteer, and the charity you volunteer for will be in breach of their terms if they start entering into what you are suggesting.


If you want a job, you need to get a job, not pretend that you have one to try to claim in work benefits.