Milage Claims in Company Owned Car

Eddygoldsmith

Hi all

My Girlfriend works in domiciliary (basically a travelling optician for various old peoples homes). She drives a company owned/leased car and has to pay for fuel out of her pocket, which she can claim 11p per mile back from the company, which doesn't actually cover all of the fuel expense.

Could she claim tax relief up to 40p per mile even though this is a company owned/leased car?

To me it seems logical that, since the company own the car, they should pay for all fuel expense and sort the tax out themselves, but i'm not sure if there is any legal obligation to do so. The company in question thinks its a privilege to be driving a company car and therefore can get away with underpaying for fuel.

If she is eligible to claim tax relief then this will cover any discrepancies in fuel expenses, i suspect that this is only for car owners and the company are probably already claiming tax relief for themselves - not sure if this even legal as it makes no logical or moral sense to me.

In any case are there any options for getting a fair deal, when a civilised discussion has already failed ?

Any advice is much appreciated.

dori2o

Eddygoldsmith wrote: »

Hi all

My Girlfriend works in domiciliary (basically a travelling optician for various old peoples homes). She drives a company owned/leased car and has to pay for fuel out of her pocket, which she can claim 11p per mile back from the company, which doesn't actually cover all of the fuel expense.

Could she claim tax relief up to 40p per mile even though this is a company owned/leased car?

To me it seems logical that, since the company own the car, they should pay for all fuel expense and sort the tax out themselves, but i'm not sure if there is any legal obligation to do so. The company in question thinks its a privilege to be driving a company car and therefore can get away with underpaying for fuel.

If she is eligible to claim tax relief then this will cover any discrepancies in fuel expenses, i suspect that this is only for car owners and the company are probably already claiming tax relief for themselves - not sure if this even legal as it makes no logical or moral sense to me.

In any case are there any options for getting a fair deal, when a civilised discussion has already failed ?

Any advice is much appreciated.

No, she cant claim the 45p rate. She can only claim upto the maximum advisory fuel rate for company provided vehicles.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advisory-fuel-rates/advisory-fuel-rates-from-1-march-2016

The 45p per mile available to those who use their own car covers everything from fuel to servicing/repairs/tyres/mot etc.

As its a company car then your girlfriend suffers none of that loss.

11p per mile for fuel cost only is actually not a bad rate. Depending on driving type and style then most people should at worst break even

Eddygoldsmith

Thanks for the reply.

11p per mile may be the standard rate for that vehicle class, but it certainly doesn't cover fuel costs.

comeandgo

Maybe your girlfriend could ask for some training in driving to conserve fuel?