Travel expenses community/home worker

Thefairfairy

When I started working with an organisation we had a set office base but I work in the community. I could only claim expenses in excess off my home to office mileage. We moved office and now have one desk between 5 people so are not expected to work from the office. I spend less than 2% of my time at the office (I go in to use the printer) but my employer is not willing to pay expenses from home to community visits. If I travel less than 38 miles, I get no expenses. I’ve looked on HMRC website but can’t find exactly what the rules are. Any ideas?

Grumpy_chap

Thefairfairy said:

When I started working with an organisation we had a set office base but I work in the community. I could only claim expenses in excess off my home to office mileage. We moved office and now have one desk between 5 people so are not expected to work from the office. I spend less than 2% of my time at the office (I go in to use the printer) but my employer is not willing to pay expenses from home to community visits. If I travel less than 38 miles, I get no expenses. I’ve looked on HMRC website but can’t find exactly what the rules are. Any ideas?

What your employer pays does not have to align with the HMRC rules.

If the employer pays less than the HMRC limit, you can claim tax allowance on the difference.

sheramber

HMRC only pays tax relief at your rate of tax,

https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-for-employees/vehicles-you-use-for-work

Jeremy535897

Claiming travel expenses is a complex area.  See https://taxaid.org.uk/guides/information/issues-for-employees/employee-expenses/travel-costs

You might also look at WFH:
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim32790

Thefairfairy

Thanks for the comments. My issue is not the rate of mileage paid, it’s the fact that we no longer have an office base so how can they still deduct home to office mileage?

sheramber

that has nothing to do with HMRC.

You need to take that up with your employer , maybe through  your union of you are a member.

Andy_L

Thefairfairy said:

Thanks for the comments. My issue is not the rate of mileage paid, it’s the fact that we no longer have an office base so how can they still deduct home to office mileage?

Because there is no legislation that says employers must not do that. They could, if they so wished, decide to deduct a random 27.6 miles off all mileage claims
The only limits are tax if they over/under pay and if their staff vote with their feet and they can't recruit/retain workers

Purplelady65

It may be that even if you don’t spend much time in the office you have a nominal base in which case your mileage may only be paid over and above the distance travelled from home to your nominal base. 

SandyShores

Some information on the link below might be useful.  

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/disabled-people-and-carers/caring-someone/issues-facing-paid-care-workers#toc-i-don-t-get-paid-for-my-travel-time-costs-is-this-right-

Also on the ACAS website:  https://www.acas.org.uk/working-time-rules/working-time-for-someone-who-travels-for-their-job

I would contact your union rep if you have one, and/or speak to colleagues, you might be able to approach your employer and negotiate together.

CKhalvashi

Purplelady65 said:

It may be that even if you don’t spend much time in the office you have a nominal base in which case your mileage may only be paid over and above the distance travelled from home to your nominal base. 

I'd disagree with that assessment on a tax basis. It's possible to have 2 bases (I have, one's about 7mi from home and the other is about 42mi from home, these are for completely different businesses though so it's clear which I'm at and for what reason but I can't claim for travel between the two or from home to either). I'd argue for OP that one of their bases is home and the other is the office. They wouldn't be allowed to claim for ordinary commuting between home and that office, but definitely would be allowed to claim the tax credit on the difference in mileage from HMRC.

The employer however is allowed to have their own policies in relation to this and I can't disagree with the employer on a policy basis as this is completely legal. We have a mileage policy where if we have agreed WFH for an employee for specific dates (we normally do this as 'Monday/Tuesday until (date about 4 months ahead)' we will pay mileage from home. This was designed for the few staff we have who commute to London from Birmingham when I ask them on occasion very nicely if they can substitute for me at a meeting in the Midlands/North. I'm sure they'd say no if we insisted on not paying until they'd equalled the commute into London.

sheramber

I worked for  a government department. 

I lived in A and worked in B. But sometimes I worked as relief in C.

iF I reported   into B then travelled to C  I could claim travel from B to C

But, if I went straight to C from home I could only claim the cost of travel from A to C less the cost of travel from A to B.