Car costs

Nearlyold

[Deleted User] wrote:

If you have difficulty in understanding the concept why not just claim the 45p on the first 10000 miles and 25p thereafter and avoid the hassle?

What is his business mileage?

If it's only an old banger worth £1200, any depreciation claim is not going to save you much, as the above poster suggests the simplified route is much easier and also likely to save you more tax. Just a thousand business miles (20 a week) would give an allowable expense claim of £450.

Savvy_Sue

*sas* wrote: »

The issue is I don't know how much of the value of the car purchase I'm allowed to declare? Can I put it all the first year or do I have to break it down year by year? Presumably either way still working on a percentage basis

I still think it's worth answering this question:

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Is the banger exclusively used for business?

If not then yes indeed it's a % basis, but whether it's worth doing that would depend on how large or small the % of business use is.

If the banger is ONLY used for business purposes, then I think it all gets easier.

Norman_Castle

*sas* wrote: »

I haven't a clue what the rules are regarding how much of the car cost can be declared or how to work it out can anyone advise me please?

*sas* wrote: »

We've always put down 30% running costs mot services etc rather than working out the exact milage. He's a musician so uses it for running about to gigs a few days a week then personal use the rest of the time. Not sure the exact business mileage

Two gigs per week is 104 gigs per year. Do you have a record of them?. Use a route finder to calculate the mileage. In future tell him to keep a record.

The 45p rate is the same regardless of the value of the car. If you can use a cheaper older car rather than a depreciating newer one the mileage rate should cover all of the costs.

[Deleted User]

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I still think it's worth answering this question:

If not then yes indeed it's a % basis, but whether it's worth doing that would depend on how large or small the % of business use is.

If the banger is ONLY used for business purposes, then I think it all gets easier.

If the old banger has cO2 emissions over 130g/km that is a whopping £96 that can be claimed. (£1200*8%). If under 130g/km it becomes 216.

I reckon that 213 miles at 45p would cover the former.

*sas*

Nearlyold wrote: »

If it's only an old banger worth £1200, any depreciation claim is not going to save you much, as the above poster suggests the simplified route is much easier and also likely to save you more tax. Just a thousand business miles (20 a week) would give an allowable expense claim of £450.

We've always worked on a percentage basis though and were told you weren't meant to switch to the other method?

*sas*

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I still think it's worth answering this question:

If not then yes indeed it's a % basis, but whether it's worth doing that would depend on how large or small the % of business use is.

If the banger is ONLY used for business purposes, then I think it all gets easier.

It's used for personal and business, roughly 30% business

*sas*

[Deleted User] wrote:

If the old banger has cO2 emissions over 130g/km that is a whopping £96 that can be claimed. (£1200*8%). If under 130g/km it becomes 216.

I reckon that 213 miles at 45p would cover the former.

Thank you for your help, we weren't sure if the 8% had to be taken out of the full value or if we could only claim it off 30% of the value as we claim 30% of other running costs of the car

Nearlyold

*sas* wrote: »

We've always worked on a percentage basis though and were told you weren't meant to switch to the other method?

You have to keep to the same basis for the same vehicle. You can switch basis (Simplified or Traditional) only on changing vehicle.