Self employed, 45p per mile business mileage

Jput

Hi, I am self employed and calculate my business mileage using the 45p per mile method. However, there are times where my wife has paid for fuel, either out of our joint account or with her own money, and this has partly been used for my business mileage. She occasionally contributes to vehicle maintenance costs also. I'm struggling to think of a straightforward way to represent this in my accounts. Can anyone help? Many thanks. 

MikeJXE

Why not with the fuel receipts, does HMRC ask who paid ?

Grumpy_chap

Jput said:

Hi, I am self employed and calculate my business mileage using the 45p per mile method. However, there are times where my wife has paid for fuel, either out of our joint account or with her own money, and this has partly been used for my business mileage. She occasionally contributes to vehicle maintenance costs also. I'm struggling to think of a straightforward way to represent this in my accounts. Can anyone help? Many thanks. 

If you are claiming 45 pence per mile you cannot also claim for fuel or other costs.

Slinky

It doesn't really matter who has paid for the fuel out of your joint account, you're just claiming for the business miles done. You wouldn't include maintenance costs for the vehicle in your accounts, the 45p rate is intended to cover maintenance as well as fuel.  If you do 100 miles, claim £45 for the business, and if you 'owe' your wife (if you're one of those couples who keep their money separate), work out what real mileage you get to the gallon and give her the direct proportion of that, not 45p per mile.

Jput

Many thanks for the replies. I think Slinky has answered my question, it's just taking a minute to get my head around it.
Just to clarify, I understand that the method of 45p for first 10,000 miles/25p thereafter covers all vehicle expenses - fuel, maintenance etc. My concern is that were I to be investigated, the fuel receipts would show that on occasions my wife had covered some of these costs. (I'm not trying to avoid that, just trying to deal with it in advance). But perhaps I've misunderstood how this works? 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Jput said:

Many thanks for the replies. I think Slinky has answered my question, it's just taking a minute to get my head around it.
Just to clarify, I understand that the method of 45p for first 10,000 miles/25p thereafter covers all vehicle expenses - fuel, maintenance etc. My concern is that were I to be investigated, the fuel receipts would show that on occasions my wife had covered some of these costs. (I'm not trying to avoid that, just trying to deal with it in advance). But perhaps I've misunderstood how this works? 

What fuel receipts?  You aren't claiming for any fuel.

You are claiming X per mile.

You should be more concerned about having proof that the vehicle in question did the mileage claimed, factoring in any personal use.

HMRC will be more likely to look at MOT details as evidence to substantiate x miles in the accounting period in question.

Jput

Ok, I think that makes sense. Thanks.

Clearly I've misunderstood this whole thing. It's just that in previous years I claimed all running costs separately - fuel, mot etc. Having just switched to the 45p per mile thing, I assumed it incorporated all of those categories, and if investigated I would still have to have evidence for all of those areas.
But from the previous 2 replies, I gather that it is the mileage that I will need to account for. 
Apologies that I'm slow on the uptake here.

[Deleted User]

Jput said:

Many thanks for the replies. I think Slinky has answered my question, it's just taking a minute to get my head around it.
Just to clarify, I understand that the method of 45p for first 10,000 miles/25p thereafter covers all vehicle expenses - fuel, maintenance etc. My concern is that were I to be investigated, the fuel receipts would show that on occasions my wife had covered some of these costs. (I'm not trying to avoid that, just trying to deal with it in advance). But perhaps I've misunderstood how this works? 

Who pays really is not relevant here. In the unlikely event that you ever have to prove anything it will be, as Dazed says, that you have a reasonable record of the mileage for which you are claiming.

sheramber

Just make sure you only claim for business mileage and not including any personal mileage that you or wife do.

Jeremy535897

Note the warnings here, as in the past you have claimed actual expenses:
https://www.gov.uk/simpler-income-tax-simplified-expenses/vehicles-

"You cannot claim simplified expenses for a vehicle you’ve already claimed capital allowances for, or you’ve included as an expense when you worked out your business profits."

I think this means that you can't use a mileage allowance if you have ever claimed capital allowances, and you can't use a mileage allowance as well as claiming actual bills. Note that once you do use mileage for a vehicle, you can't change back to actual expenses.

Jput

Much appreciated - I was aware of that guidance, that you need to continue with capital allowances for the life of the vehicle. We bought a new car within the most recent tax year, hence the change. 

And just to double check - if you are using mileage allowance, presumably you cannot therefore also claim the purchase cost of the vehicle as a capital allowance?! Can anyone confirm this?