Self Assessment help

hotrocks68

Hi,
 I’m hoping for some solid advice,a tax office employer would be ideal!
 Anyway i am self employed and have been for many years and,it will soon be time to submit my self assessment.However…….
 i purchased a van for 12k of a family member who i often work for who emailed me the invoice.He said he would give me the V5 document soon after as he could’nt find it.Anyway after 2 weeks i was’nt happy with using the vehicle at his call and what with the insurance/tax/mot i decided i had made a mistake and gave the van back.Being family i/we decided that he could keep the money and he would maintain the van….he paid insurance,tax,mot and pays for the fuel,servicing and this means i get to do work for him.In other words i’ve got use of the van as if its mine with zero expense.Its all but mine yet his name on v5.
 Anyway when i do my self assessment i am considering claiming for the van cost,afterall i did pay the money and have the receipt.
 But if i was to be questioned on it by the tax office although i can produce the receipt of purchase,the van is not in my name.
 Obviously i dont want to do anything that might get me in trouble but if i provide the receipt is the tax office likely to check the vehicle registration??
 Thoughts appreciated.

Jeremy535897

A registration document (V5) is not proof of ownership. The registered keeper should be the person who is actually using / keeping the vehicle and this is not necessarily the owner of the vehicle or the person who is paying for it. So whose name is on the V5 is not relevant.

The question is whether the vehicle is actually yours, or whether you are effectively renting the vehicle for an up front payment. If there is no private element involved, the answer for tax purposes may well be the same.

[Deleted User]

What a strange scenario! Is there any possibility of treating the £12000 as an initial rental payment of the van for an indeterminate period? Other than that I cannot think of any other way that the payment can be claimed as an expense.

Sorry Jeremy, found myself reading the post a few times and our posts crossed.

Jeremy535897

purdyoaten2 said:

What a strange scenario! Is there any possibility of treating the £12000 as an initial rental payment of the van for an indeterminate period? Other than that I cannot think of any other way that the payment can be claimed as an expense.

Sorry Jeremy, found myself reading the post a few times and our posts crossed.

I took a more relaxed view. Either OP owns it, in which case claim 100% allowances (or as an expense if on the cash basis), or it is an expense relating to a lease, so claim it as such (OK if on the cash basis, might need spreading if not) . This assumes no private usage. This assumes the amount represents the market value.