Bookkeeping - How to handle petrol expenses?

EmilieLitenLo

Hello,

I am newly self-registered (sole trader).

I have a business account and a personal account. I have a car which I use for business and personal use.

Do I pay my petrol with my business account or my personal account?
What do I write in my cashbook? Full amount or part of the amount (if let's say I use my car 50% business and 50% personal).

Thank you

00ec25

lots of info online, no need to write it all out again:

https://www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed

http://taxaid.org.uk/guides/information/a-starting-point-for-the-self-employed/self-employed/using-your-private-car-for-work

bengalknights

The easiest way is to claim the business mileage allowance for your business use

trailingspouse

Agree - pay for your petrol from your personal account, and pay yourself business mileage (currently 45p per mile for the first 10,000 miles in the tax year, and 25p per mile thereafter) from your business account. Keep a note of all your business miles (not just visiting clients, but things like driving to the post office to post business mail, driving to pick up the new printer, or more paper, or to visit the accountant), and tot them up at the end of the month, then send money across from your business account to your personal account for that amount.

It saves having to work out what percentage of the car usage is personal and what percentage is for business. 45p is intended to cover not just fuel, but a proportion of the running costs of the car.

maisie_cat

Agreed that the easiest thing to do is use the 45p rate for all business mileage and pay all car related expenditure, including business use for insurance from personal money.