Annual bus pass - self employed

jules9

I purchase an annual bus pass which costs £490 pa.
I am self employed and travel most days to the centre of town from my home to meet customers. This is usually at the same meeting point.
I note that bus travel is listed on HMRC site as tax deductible.
Can I claim the full amount or a percentage as I use it 80% for business purposes?

TheCyclingProgrammer

My understanding is that for self-employed, where there is duality of purpose, apportionment is allowed where there is an identifiable proportion was incurred wholly and exclusively for business purposes.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/bim37600.htm

So the question is whether or not there is an identifiable proportion of the expense that is wholly and exclusively for business purposes. There possibly is but I would be keeping a log of the journeys made to back up your claim for the proportion of the expense being claimed.

agrinnall

I think you probably will be able to claim a percentage, and it's unlikely that HMRC will worry too much about it. But in case they do, you need to think about the "wholly and exclusively" test, if you do a bit of shopping after you've seen your client, does that exclude the travel on that day?

The other thing to question is whether the usual 2 year rule on travel to the same location would apply in this instance.

TheCyclingProgrammer

agrinnall wrote: »

The other thing to question is whether the usual 2 year rule on travel to the same location would apply in this instance.

I thought the 2 year rule only applied to travel to a temporary workplace, not normal business meetings. I also thought it only applied to employees, not the self-employed.

That said, OP would have to spend more than 40% of their time at the said location for the 2 year rule to even kick in anyway. This seems unlikely for meetings.

sheramber

Where do you meet these people?

agrinnall

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

I thought the 2 year rule only applied to travel to a temporary workplace, not normal business meetings. I also thought it only applied to employees, not the self-employed.

That said, OP would have to spend more than 40% of their time at the said location for the 2 year rule to even kick in anyway. This seems unlikely for meetings.

You're probably right that it only applies to employment, the only time I ever got involved with it was when I was a contractor working through a limited company. You could be right on the other points too, although if the meetings always happen at the same place there could be an argument that it is a temporary workplace.

TheCyclingProgrammer

agrinnall wrote: »

although if the meetings always happen at the same place there could be an argument that it is a temporary workplace.

Possibly. Although like I said, you have to consider the 40% rule before you consider the 24 month rule.