self employed -can i claim car expenses for any of these jobs ?

dinosaur66

i used to be a street market trader for 40 plus years / so filled out decades of hmrc returns and claimed my van expenses for this business.

i have now retired as a street market trader and have sold my van but have a car .

am i allowed to claim for car expenses on any of these ?

i have midsize online ebay and discogs shop selling secondhand goods 4000 listed which i purchase driving in said car to different towns from charity shops & bootsales

i am a landlord with local propertys to me albeit this would only incoperate 0.01 of my milage a year

i have other rentals in scotland but cannot count them as i am also a full time unpaid carer  and have my mothers disabled car which we go to scotland in 7 times a year as my fiesta 1.25 cannot make it up the steep inclines

my other source of income is just standard savings .

i do not want to bend any rules in april when i file my next return if i cannot claim no problem

i do not mind swallowing the expenses if you think it might lead to a query on my tax return

i use this car as my runaround and not the disabled car as i have a american eskimo dog (artic fox )  that comes everywhere with me and my mother and sheds fur at an amazing rate and also i have to do things like mix up concrete / tanking slurry for my rental propertys and get covered in crap

Bookworm105

you could claim the 45pence per mile rate for both the ebay trade and the landlord rental income 
do however remember to keep the calculations completely separate as you cannot deduct a single lump sum cost since those are unrelated income sources whose net profit must be declared separately

claiming actual costs for the car would be very messy as there would be a significant private use element 

dinosaur66

i was not sure which is why i have asked

as a market trader i claimed everything on my van which was solely for business use

never claimed on a car before in 42 years been self employed

as my van was just used for going to my local street market and i ony worked 8 months a year my mileage was 1.4k a year , i used to claim for the running costs expenses as opposed to the 45p a mile rule as it worked out more

but if i am allowed to claim 45p mile rule for an ebay shop that would be great and more than cover my car expenses for the year

for ebay /discogs i keep a day by day account of /post and ancillary costs /

then i total them up at end of each month

 i am guessing i just put milage down in seperate column when i go out on a buying day and keep the petrol receipts .

if that is acceptable to HMRC

i will not be able to do that for this tax return as i have not kept my mileage but can start in 8 weeks with the new tax year starts

Bookworm105

dinosaur66 said:

 i am guessing i just put milage down in seperate column when i go out on a buying day and keep the petrol receipts .

if that is acceptable to HMRC

you need to keep a mileage log: date, distance, purpose of journey
ideally one column for landlord journeys and one for the SE work 

you do not need to keep fuel receipts when claiming the PPM flat rate 

Albermarle

The 45p a mile in theory at least covers all costs ( depreciation , maintenance, insurance etc) not just fuel, so petrol receipts are unnecessary.

dinosaur66

Bookworm105 said:

dinosaur66 said:

 i am guessing i just put milage down in seperate column when i go out on a buying day and keep the petrol receipts .

if that is acceptable to HMRC

you need to keep a mileage log: date, distance, purpose of journey
ideally one column for landlord journeys and one for the SE work 

you do not need to keep fuel receipts when claiming the PPM flat rate 

thank you

i have my ebay/discogs accounts done day by day and month by month so i when i start my new accounts book in april  i will do it as you say for my online shops purchasing business.

i will not claim for my landlord journeys to keep it simple

and i did not know that i did not have to have petrol receipts / i have dustbin bags of petrol receipts just in case i was audited

dinosaur66

Albermarle said:

The 45p a mile in theory at least covers all costs ( depreciation , maintenance, insurance etc) not just fuel, so petrol receipts are unnecessary.

yes thank you

i have never used the 45p a mile system before but it will easily cover all my costs

just did not know if an ebay shop allowed it and did not want to claim for something i was not allowed to

 

Bookworm105

dinosaur66 said:
yes thank you
i have never used the 45p a mile system before but it will easily cover all my costs
just did not know if an ebay shop allowed it and did not want to claim for something i was not allowed to

you are operating a business
you purchase physical goods, add a margin, and then sell them for a profit.

you are therefore undertaking the perfect example of a trading business, obviously that includes you incurring a cost in acquiring the items you sell. In your case, rather than paying a supplier's shipping charge, you incur that cost yourself by going and collecting it. Obviously therefore the cost of that collection is an expense of your business (and is presumably reflected in your margin) and in your case comprises the mileage claim

just be careful that you do not mix business trips with personal trips as you should only claim trips undertaken purely for business purposes