Dreaded Self Assessment - One hopefully simple question!

scottishspendaholic25

Hi,

I am being super helpful and help my bf out with his tax return.

He works from home as an architect and I am working through the house expenses in order to claim these. This is not proving a problem.

However its his motoring expenses I'm a bit stuck on. He bought a new car in Feb this year for 20k which is used 70/30 for business/personal use. I am logging the mileage of 40p per mile but am not clear if the cost of the car or even a proportion can be claimed or not?

If anybody knows or is in the same situation, please let me know!

Thanks v much.

Jo

:beer: (once the tax return is complete!)

Hoddie_2

Sorry, I read 'self assessment' as 'self-employed' - the following will not apply if he's an employee.

If you're claiming 40p/25p per mile you cannot claim anything else in relation to the vehicle. The other way would be to claim capital allowances on the vehicle and then seperate expenses for fuel (actual costs) and servicing, insurance, etc (pro rate business v personal).

40p per mile is certainly the easiest but not always the most cost effective. The self-employment notes should give you a good example of how to claim capital allowances so I'd recommend you compare the two.

Once you choose one of these methods you cannot switch the way you claim in future years for the same vehicle.

LittleVoice

Isn't the 40p/mile supposed to cover running costs (like insurance, depreciation, servicing) in addition to the petrol used? That's why it reduces after 10000 miles/year. It's the maximum HMRC allow before they start taxing the extra.

If a company-maintained car is used, the mileage rate would be a lower, flat rate.