Freelance/Sole Trader Travel Expense Question

k-dog

Hi,

First post here, not sure if I am posting in the right place, sorry mods

I have a question about travel expenses and if I can claim travel because of the nature of what I do.

I know that HMRC says i can NOT claim for "travel between home and work". It then gets quite technical in what is regarded as a fixed place of work, etc.

For what I do, i'm told where & what time I have to start work (always different places). Then I travel from my house to the work site and back to my house again.

Now because I am traveling between my home and work, but it is always a different location, and thus not a fixed place of work, but is work travel. Can I claim this or can I not?

Hope i've explained it well enough, and if you haven't guess already I'm very new to this.

Thanks in advance for your help

Spidernick

If your business is effectively run from your home then you can claim travel expenses to and from the various locations at which you work.

TheCyclingProgrammer

You get told where to go and when to start - but you're self employed? Sounds odd to me. What do you do?

The answer mainly depends on where yur base of operations is.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/BIM37620.htm

k-dog

@TheCyclingProgrammer, people ask for my services (maybe 'told' was the wrong word) when they need me, I set up sound systems. Basically, they call me up, tell me the details and I arrive on site to either take the system down, transport it to a warehouse or install the system. After which I go home.

@spidernick, is my business classed as being run from my home as I don't actually do any work there? It is purely just for living in

MataNui

The letter of the law is quite simple. You are entitled to claim from your normal pace of work to your temporary place of work. If your invoices have your home address on them then that is a good indicator that your home address is your place of business so you would be able to claim.

HMRC actually have no interest whatsoever in tax law. Thats why the lose almost every case they bring. They will twist words to make it out you should pay even if you done need to, so dont take what they say as gospel. Its not.

purdyoaten

MataNui wrote: »

The letter of the law is quite simple. You are entitled to claim from your normal pace of work to your temporary place of work. done need to, so dont take what they say as gospel. Its not.

Unless, of course, things change!

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2960156/Loophole-lets-freelance-workers-offset-cost-daily-lunch-commute-against-tax-closed-Budget.html

k-dog

Thanks for all your help guys, still pretty confusing though, would you recommend I get an accountant of my first self-assessment?
Do you have any recommendations on who to use in London/online?

pchelpman

Yes, for your own peace of mind, I would recommend you appoint a tax advisor to help you out. Even if it's only for the first year.

Then again, some may comment I would say that as I am a professionally qualified tax advisor.

Of course I would. It's what I believe.

I'm in London.

If you'd like to PM me I can tell you more.

theEnd

In this example you should be claiming all your travel expenses.

If you had an office you visited first each day, then you probably wouldn't claim the initial travel to that office, but you would claim to/from the clients.

As you don't have a central office and you're visiting different clients all the time, you'd claim everything.

Much like a tradesman, who'd claim all his van/petrol/insurance etc.

Cyberman60

I ran my own company for over 15 years and the rules were that if I had no permanent place of work to go to I could claim. I believe though that there is a limit of 24 months if you keep going to the same place day in day out, for mileage expenses, as it can then be deemed a permanent place of work.

Alternatively, it was often in my contract that the company I was working for on short contracts would pay my flights, accommodation etc while I was working away, such as in France or Germany. I was commuting at weekends.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Cyberman60 wrote: »

I believe though that there is a limit of 24 months if you keep going to the same place day in day out, for mileage expenses, as it can then be deemed a permanent place of work.

There is a 24 month rule, but its a bit more detailed than that.

A temporary work place can be considered a permanent workplace if:

* You spent more than 40% of your time there
* You know you will be there for more than 24 months

That means, for example, if you have a 3 year contract at a location at which you work full time, you can't claim any travel expenses as its treated as a permanent location from the outset.

Likewise, if you have an 18 month contract, which is then extended for another 12 months, you would be able to claim for the first 18 months but as soon as you signed the extension you would have to stop claiming.