Jury service

Libara

Husband has been called up for Jury service we have been told to claim loss of earnings as a self employed person he needs to provide proof of earnings from last tax return the problem being that he has only been self employed since November so have no tax return we are registered as self employed with HMRC and have a UTR ref number. I read that we can get a letter from accountant but we dont have one as we dont need one at the moment. Does anyone know the cost of gaining such letter (Roughly) . Another problem is they will only pay for public transport and not parking now I dont understand this. Why would he want risk his health by getting on the covid train when the car is much safter plus the cost of parking we have found for £6.70 and public transport will be at a cost of £13 so it makes no sense. We cant afford to pay the parking ourselves and loss income. They have said he can defer but will still have to do it at a later date anyway. Hoping to gain any advise from anyone that has been in this situation.
Thank you in advance

Retiredwelshman

My advice then is to ask to defer.

oldbikebloke

the rules are designed to cover the widest range of scenarios. The fact they are not to your liking is tough luck.

Taxpayer's poor value for money on an individual scenario such as yours is irrelevant since the average will favour the cost to the taxpayer in funding jury service.

As above, the adviCe would be: defer.

Savvy_Sue

Agree, defer, although I believe if you do so, you won't be able to do so the second time you are called, no matter how inconvenient it might be on that occasion. 

As for the parking, would you be able to drop him off? 

Norman_Castle

Ask the court about transport costs, I don't remember providing proof. You may be able to claim public transport cost which you can spend on parking.

Offer your DIY accounts as proof of income.

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/how-to-claim-expenses

Retiredwelshman

Norman_Castle said:

Ask the court about transport costs, I don't remember providing proof. You may be able to claim public transport cost which you can spend on parking.

Offer your DIY accounts as proof of income.

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/how-to-claim-expenses

You would need to attach your bus ticket to the expenses claim form - so this would not work.

oldbikebloke

Norman_Castle said:

Ask the court about transport costs, I don't remember providing proof. You may be able to claim public transport cost which you can spend on parking.

Offer your DIY accounts as proof of income.

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/how-to-claim-expenses

read your own link

"Food, drink and travel expenses

Fill in the claim form you received at the start of jury service. Return it to the court with the relevant receipts."

Norman_Castle

oldbikebloke said:

Norman_Castle said:

Ask the court about transport costs, I don't remember providing proof. You may be able to claim public transport cost which you can spend on parking.

Offer your DIY accounts as proof of income.

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/how-to-claim-expenses

read your own link

"Food, drink and travel expenses

Fill in the claim form you received at the start of jury service. Return it to the court with the relevant receipts."

My link states,

"Questions about expenses

Contact the court where you did jury service if you have questions about expenses."

As I said, I didn't provide a pile of bus tickets.

oldbikebloke

Norman_Castle said:

oldbikebloke said:

Norman_Castle said:

Ask the court about transport costs, I don't remember providing proof. You may be able to claim public transport cost which you can spend on parking.

Offer your DIY accounts as proof of income.

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/how-to-claim-expenses

read your own link

"Food, drink and travel expenses

Fill in the claim form you received at the start of jury service. Return it to the court with the relevant receipts."

My link states,

"Questions about expenses

Contact the court where you did jury service if you have questions about expenses."

As I said, I didn't provide a pile of bus tickets.

the only thing that shows is you failed to read the preceding paragraphs (which include the one I quoted) that categorically answer the question asked, are receipts required? Answer: yes

the fact you got away with it is a function of administrative inefficiency, not the existence of a right to claim without receipts.

Norman_Castle

oldbikebloke said:

I didn't fail to read anything or "get away" with anything. From personal experience the  Norman_Castle said:

oldbikebloke said:

Norman_Castle said:

Ask the court about transport costs, I don't remember providing proof. You may be able to claim public transport cost which you can spend on parking.

Offer your DIY accounts as proof of income.

https://www.gov.uk/jury-service/how-to-claim-expenses

read your own link

"Food, drink and travel expenses

Fill in the claim form you received at the start of jury service. Return it to the court with the relevant receipts."

My link states,

"Questions about expenses

Contact the court where you did jury service if you have questions about expenses."

As I said, I didn't provide a pile of bus tickets.

the only thing that shows is you failed to read the preceding paragraphs (which include the one I quoted) that categorically answer the question asked, are receipts required? Answer: yes

the fact you got away with it is a function of administrative inefficiency, not the existence of a right to claim without receipts.

I didn't fail to read anything or "get away" with anything. In my experience the courts are not as officious as you seem to believe.

Savvy_Sue

There must be an alternative to providing bus tickets as receipts, because where I live, you need your bus ticket in order to get home! 

At work we get round it by copying the bus ticket, so they probably have a system for that. 

It is possibly worth asking if parking can be claimed if it is so much cheaper than public transport, but I still think the best options are deferring, OR seeing if the OP can drop him off and pick him up afterwards.