HB/CTB HMRC tax return & self employment expenses

sidced

Hi, I am self employed doing cleaning work, I walk to one of the jobs where I go twice a week but the other one I drive to once a week which is a 15 mile round trip from home to work.


I have recently increased my hours so I informed HB / CTB, I sent a new self employed form to them and they have written back asking me to confirm declared previous motoring expenses, split between business / personal use etc.


I had already provided them with motoring expenses before I increased my hours which they accepted but to be honest I wasn't sure how to work the costs out so I did what I thought best and am now wondering if I have been wrong.


My questions are:


1. Can I claim the full 11 miles as I drop my child to school on the way which is not going out of the way at all, even if I wasn't taking her to school I would do the exact same route and mileage. The only difference is I stop the car, get out, see him off, and get back in the car.


2. Is the above even allowed as business use or would it be classed as commuting?


3. As I am so unsure of how to work out actual motoring expenses does anyone know the correct way of working them out? I don't know how to work out what percentage is used for business use, maths was never my strong point! (this obviously depends on if this is even classed as business use)


4. I'm wondering if it's even really worth the bother of trying to put through motoring costs, I really don't want to get in trouble for declaring incorrect figures so am I allowed to just not put anything through for motoring costs and ask them to disregard previous figures?


I think that's all! Many thanks in advance for anyone that can help.

Icequeen99

The expenses rules for HB are not the same as those used by HMRC for tax.

So just because an expense is allowable for a tax return doesn't mean that HB will allow it.

For tax, if you are using the simplified expenses, you would deduct 45p for each business mile as an expense. But the journey must be wholly, necessarily and exclusively for business. If you are taking your child to school I doubt it would pass the test. If you turn it around, if you didn't do the business run you would still take your child to school.

IQ