Fuel card and reclaiming tax help!

itsarichmansworld

I have been using a fuel card for the last year and have been told I can claim the tax back on my business miles, however we submitted a claim via the personal tax account online which was rejected.

My employers accountant put the fuel card amount through on the P11D as expenses and says this is correct where as the tax office said it should have went through as fuel card.

Can anyone help me with this absolute minefield its not easy to work out at all?

I used £1775 total on my card including personal mileage

My total business mileage was 4645.9 which at 45p a mile is £2090.66

cloud_dog

When you say fuel card, do you mean the company's fuel card and is it a company vehicle?

And, does it cover personal mileage (fuel) also?

itsarichmansworld

Its my car and company fuel card yes includes personal miles

cloud_dog

itsarichmansworld wrote: »

Its my car and company fuel card yes includes personal miles

So, no you cannot claim any tax back on business miles.

a) There is no tax to claim back on the business miles as the company is fully funding that travel

b) The card is a benefit in kind as it also funds you personal mileage

The current set up is correct.

With such low business mileage I would be tempted to opt out of having the company fuel card, if you could?

itsarichmansworld

Its very confusing our accountant says we can but claim was rejected

You are right I am better off handing it back and I think I will

Thanks !

cloud_dog

Claiming the tax back relates to where there is a difference between what the Government stipulates as the payment per mile price and what the company pays you per mile. If your company were to pay you 45ppm then there would be no tax to claim back.

For the first 10k it is 45ppm, everything else is 25ppm.

Companies can pay whatever the choose to but, as an example, my company currently pays me 11ppm (for a 2.0l diesel), and I then claim the tax back on the difference between what I have received and the Government's limits.

You'll need to keep good records and it might also be worth bookmarking the HMRC site for advisory business miles fuel rates, as if your company is efficient and fuel costs increase/decease during the tax year you may need to either know how to calculate the fuel payments received or keep a note of the actual payments received.

cloud_dog

Ooooh, have I faux pas and muddled up company and non-company with a fuel card?

I need to check.

EDIT: The above response related to a post by molerat, subsequently deleted. It did raise an interesting point which was under the current set up the OP has there is no way to claim any relief for wear and tear on their private vehicle, usually this is through the company either paying you more than the guidance rates and claiming tax relief on the difference.

molerat wrote:

No they are not, they are funding the fuel for that travel and OP is being taxed on that fuel. IMO they should be claiming business mileage relief at the 45p/25p rate and the tax on the fuel card offsets against it so they are effectively claiming tax relief on the wear and tear.

In the OPs position there isn't a company offered mileage rate (as it is all funded via the fuel card) so, I am a little unsure how you would go about calculating the difference for claiming back on tax.

EDIT: EDIT: OP, I don't think you can claim tax relief on business miles under your current set up. I'm assuming you do not need to pay for personal fuel use either? So, depending on how many private miles you do each year this might be a consideration. When I had a company car and fuel card I used to regularly go see my football team play - 360 mile round trip

Your best option (if you are allowed to opt out) is to use one of the cash or company car type calculators out there to work out which option is better for you, for example RAC.

OP - I forgot to ask an obvious question.... Does your company have a published fuel mileage rate, i.e. 11ppm for X vehicle with X size engine or CO2 rating??

cloud_dog

Apologies OP, I feel I've taken you for a drive and we've come full circle without actually providing you with any clarity.

00ec25

itsarichmansworld wrote: »

Its my car and company fuel card yes includes personal miles

- the company pays for fuel in full.
- it is your personal car
- the fuel being paid for does not include any contribution towards your "other running costs"

you are entitled to claim the difference between the total amount of BUSINESS fuel paid and the equivalent cost of the BUSINESS miles done at the approved mileage rate for your vehicle since the mile rate (eg 45ppm or 25ppm) includes contribution towards running costs, not just fuel

the personal fuel paid for by the company is a taxable benefit for you upon which you owe tax on the cash value of fuel paid for you by the company. If you are not required by your company to keep mileage records then your company is doing it wrong

Workerbee999

I have this same set up - a fuel card but no company car. It goes through the P11D as expenses (not fuel for a company car as I don’t have one) and I am taxed on the full value of the fuel spent. One year I did a lot of company miles, the cost of which I was therefore taxed on. I claimed this back using the standard mileage rate (to get the tax element back) and it was initially rejected. So I wrote to HMRC with full details of the benefit in kind and how it was being treated by my company, and including detailed records for the business part that I was reclaiming the tax on.

This was then accepted and I was refunded the tax element - I think HMRC classed it was “over statement of P11D expenses”