Business mileage

LandyAndy

You should be able to claim the distance from either your home or your place of work to the remote location, whichever is less.

zagfles

esmerobbo wrote: »

I was answering the OP's question on the difference between their mileage and their commute costs. sorry if I didn't make it clear.

Their commute costs are irrelavent if he's not going to his normal place of work. (as far as HMRC are concerned).

If he's paid the fare already then he can't reclaim it, but what he seems to be asking is whether he should deduct what he would have paid in commuting costs from his mileage claim from home. As far as HMRC are concerned, nothing should be deducted, the whole journey is a business jouney.

His employer may have different rules.

zagfles

LandyAndy wrote: »

You should be able to claim the distance from either your home or your place of work to the remote location, whichever is less.

Wrong. See above.

Manxman_in_exile

Le_Kirk wrote: »

As an (ex) company car driver, I do not understand the employer saying, you cannot claim for the return journey to work. Let's say you drive to the office and, since it is your regular place of employment, you cannot claim mileage but then you drive 300 miles to an out-of-office site for work purposes, for which you can claim. Are they saying you cannot claim for the 300 mile return journey? I think if this was the case my car would suddenly become unavailable forcing them to buy pool cars or fix you up with a hire car every time you went out on THIER business!

Yeah - I don't understand that either. It makes no sense.

LandyAndy

zagfles wrote: »

Wrong. See above.

Is it? I'm sure that is how I remember it. If I lived 50 miles from my place of work and had to travel, for work, to a place 2 miles past it then it would seem perverse that I could claim 104 miles of mileage allowance and not 4 miles.

Manxman_in_exile

zagfles wrote: »

Wrong. See above.

Is it? I thought that's what we did in the NHS?


Say I lived 5 miles from base - so 10 mile round commute I can't claim for. I have to visit location B and I go there straight from home (3 miles away). Then I return to base (let's say 8 miles return). I'm pretty sure(?) I would have claimed for 3 + 8 = 11 miles.


Are you saying I should have claimed for the full return trip from base to location B? (ie 16 miles).


Or are you saying I should have deducted the length of my normal commute from the claim? (ie 11- 5 = 6miles).


Sorry if I'm being thick and have completely misunderstood your point!


(PS - thinking about it, maybe we did deduct the normal commuting distance? It's a long time since I had to make acclaim).


EDIT: Just re-read the posts and I think I understand where you are coming from. But isn't LandyAndy's point in #16 a valid one?


I've been confused by the OP talking about "returning to work" when I think they may have meant "returning home"(?). I didn't find the OP very clear.

zagfles

LandyAndy wrote: »

Is it? I'm sure that is how I remember it. If I lived 50 miles from my place of work and had to travel, for work, to a place 2 miles past it then it would seem perverse that I could claim 104 miles of mileage allowance and not 4 miles.

There is something about the place you visit being in broadly the same area as your office, then you can't claim. Eg visiting a site next door, not sure of the exact rules on this.

But you can normally claim the whole distance from home even if you drive past your office on the way. From the HMRC guide above:

Passing work on the way to somewhere else
3.48
An employee may pass a permanent workplace on the way to or from a temporary workplace. If the employee stops and performs substantive duties at the permanent workplace then there are 2 journeys !!!8211; ordinary commuting between home and the
permanent workplace and a business journey between the permanent workplace and the temporary workplace. Tax relief will be available for the cost of the second of these journeys !!!8211; but not the first.
3.49
Where the employee does not stop at the permanent workplace, or any stop is incidental to the business journey, all of the journey is business travel.

Manxman_in_exile

zagfles wrote: »

There is something about the place you visit being in broadly the same area as your office, then you can't claim. Eg visiting a site next door, not sure of the exact rules on this.

But you can normally claim the whole distance from home even if you drive past your office on the way. From the HMRC guide above:

Hmmm. 3.49 is interesting!


But the OP isn't querying the tax position, is he? He's querying his employer's change in expenses policy and whether they can do it?

zagfles

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

Hmmm. 3.49 is interesting!


But the OP isn't querying the tax position, is he? He's querying his employer's change in expenses policy and whether they can do it?

Yes but his employer is using HMRC regulations as an excuse. It's a fake excuse. The employer can do it, but they shouldn't be lying as to why. Particularly since, if the employer does pay less mileage than HMRC allow, the employee can claim tax relief on the difference.

Manxman_in_exile

Baldbloke wrote: »

Therefore, is there a way that I can claim my day's mileage minus my return fare on public transport? This works slightly in my favour but it's more the principle.

Thanks.

Having re-read this thread, I think the only person who can answer this is your employer. Ask them.