self assessment - what can you claim?

[kusanku]

I suspect quite a few people on here do a self-assessment form for income tax each year. I was wondering what car-related things are tax-deductible? At the moment I only claim for work-related mileage.

 

[alanf]

Ive been told by my accountant that i can claim 40p a mile but nothing else. Doesn't seem right to me . Would love a second opinion.

Alan

 

[Mudster]

Ive been told by my accountant that i can claim 40p a mile but nothing else. Doesn't seem right to me . Would love a second opinion.

Alan

Correct, as anything else would suggest the vehicle is a company car, which opens a can of worms with regard to benefit in kind tax.

It's 40p a mile upto 10,000 and 25p thereafter (from memory).

Of course, if your company is not providing you with a vehicle it should be providing you with a cash allowance. You then run the vehicle of your choice and charge business mileage back to the company at the above mentioned rates.

 

[Shelaghb]

To claim mileage @40 and 25p per mile you have to discount any subsidy you receive and with a car you will only receive a percentage as opposed to running a van as the tax man asssumes that it will be used for a certain amount of private use

 

[tippandy]

Hi , there are a lot of variables involved with vehicle expenses.What is your occupation, are you self employed,etc.

andy

 

[johny5_uk]

I have attached the excel sheet that I use when I make a claim. You just have to punch in your monthly business mileage.
I get 13p per mile from the company so you may have to adjust the figure that you receive.

 

[moonloops]

I always wondered, if you bought a second home and rented it out to a relative for a peppercorn rent could you claim back for upkeep/maintenance etc?

e.g. Decorate the place for £5k top to bottom what could you claim back?

 

[wemorgan]

If you chose your car wisely then 40p/mile is enoough to cover the diesel costs, depreciation, servicing and road tax. Since fuel costs have risen marketly over recent years it would be nice to see a rise in the 40p allowance too.

 

[johny5_uk]

The government are screwing us no matter what.
Believe it or not they have actually dropped the "advisory fuel rates" that a company should pay its employee with a private car in certain instances.
Although anyone with a larger engine size should be getting what they deserve.
At our place we get 13pence per mile no matter what you drive, so the drivers running small engined diesels are pocketing the difference when it maybe only costs them 11p per mile to run and the larger engined drivers, well just lose out.

HM Revenue & Customs: Company Cars - Advisory fuel rates for company cars

Also laughable is the price of fuel on the "HMRC's" chart. Are the people that create the charts in a different department to the robbers that apply the duty on fuel????
Back in Dec 09 I know that the price of petrol was a lot higher than 108.7 and likewise for diesel at 109.9.

Rant over.

 

[wemorgan]

HM Revenue & Customs: Company cars - advisory fuel rates from 1 December 2009
I can't comment on other cars but the advisory rate for a 1.4 diesel is 11ppm, which I feel is quite accurate, or even a little generous, since my car costs 8-10ppm. So even though the fuel costs of £1.10 are not accurate, the average mpg of 44 is pessimistic.

 

[The Pan Man]

I get 13p per mile from the company

That is so far out of date it's a joke. I rough terms that equates to 1/10th of a gallon per mile.

 

[Rory]

The government are screwing us no matter what.
Believe it or not they have actually dropped the "advisory fuel rates" that a company should pay its employee with a private car in certain instances.

That's not what the advisory fuel rates are. Those rates are the amounts companies should pay employees who drive company cars but buy their own fuel. Or, they have private cars but all fuel is paid for so they have to repay the fuel used for private mileage.

If you have a private car and buy your own fuel and your company is paying you 13p/mile then you should reclaim the difference between 13p and the Authorised Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP) rates. You only get the tax back on the difference, but if you do a lot of miles and pay tax at 40% then the rebate can be chunky.

 

[Rovinghawk]

I get 13p per mile from the company

That is so far out of date it's a joke. I rough terms that equates to 1/10th of a gallon per mile.

Where can I get petrol at 1.30 per gallon?

As for cars costing 11p per mile, do they not have servicing, tyres, depreciation, insurance, etc?

RH

 

[HR17]

We get 40p/mile for the 1st 10,000 miles, then 25p/mile for anything above that in each tax year. I think this is a standard Inland Revenue figure - I'm sure your employers will be able to confirm this. As for claiming anything else, a colleague of mine tried it, and opened a can of worms. Some people get lucky, other less so if they decide to examine your claim and ask for proof, documentation and receipts. I think for the small amounts of extras you might try to get, the effort and risk really isn't worth it.

 

[tylerdurden]

got 2 jobs. Employee and self employed.

I tot up total cost of motoring in 1 year then split it according to % self employed use and % other.

I claim the % self employed off as a business expense and my accountant says that is kosher.

Total motoring cost includes depreciation/tax/insurance/fuel/servicing/parts - in fact everything.

For me that works better than the 40pp mile

 

[Rory]

We get 40p/mile for the 1st 10,000 miles, then 25p/mile for anything above that in each tax year. I think this is a standard Inland Revenue figure - I'm sure your employers will be able to confirm this. As for claiming anything else, a colleague of mine tried it, and opened a can of worms. Some people get lucky, other less so if they decide to examine your claim and ask for proof, documentation and receipts. I think for the small amounts of extras you might try to get, the effort and risk really isn't worth it.

Those rates are correct. The previous Government considered dropping the rate to 25p across the board but backed of due to NHS staff kicking off about it.

As for claiming additional costs, you can't do that - the rates are meant to cover everything. In most companies (but not employers like NHS) regular car users would get a fixed monthly allowance too.

 

[Rory]

got 2 jobs. Employee and self employed.

I tot up total cost of motoring in 1 year then split it according to % self employed use and % other.

I claim the % self employed off as a business expense and my accountant says that is kosher.

Total motoring cost includes depreciation/tax/insurance/fuel/servicing/parts - in fact everything.

For me that works better than the 40pp mile

Hmmm...I'm not sure how it works if you're self-employed, but if the company pays for the car, then doesn't it become a company car on which you should pay benefit-in-kind tax?

 

[markjay]

Those rates are correct. The previous Government considered dropping the rate to 25p across the board but backed of due to NHS staff kicking off about it.

As for claiming additional costs, you can't do that - the rates are meant to cover everything. In most companies (but not employers like NHS) regular car users would get a fixed monthly allowance too.

This is correct the - 40p per mile (or less - depends on your employer) should compensate you for ALL car-related costs, i.e. fuel, servicing, VED, MOT, depreciation, insurance, etc etc... so once you claim the mileage allowance for your private car you can not claim anything else in connection with that car.

However.... you can claim expenses relating to your journey, and not to the car, i.e. Congestion Charge (in London), parking, and toll-roads. There is no limit how much you can claim for these, as long as it can be demonstrated that they are reasonable and relate to your business journeys.

What you can't do though, is claim anything - i.e. neither mileage not CC/parking/tolls, for trips to or from your fixed place of work. So no parking receipts from outside the office...

It is therefore a good idea to keep an accurate log of your travels for which you claim business miles (and other expenses), in case the taxman shows interest. In general, these have to be trips done solely and wholly for the purpose of generating income for your business - e.g. travelling to see customers or suppliers, or carry on-site work away from the office.

Hope this helps....

 

[markjay]

This is correct the - 40p per mile (or less - depends on your employer) should compensate you for ALL car-related costs, i.e. fuel, servicing, VED, MOT, depreciation, insurance, etc etc... so once you claim the mileage allowance for your private car you can not claim anything else in connection with that car.

However.... you can claim expenses relating to your journey, and not to the car, i.e. Congestion Charge (in London), parking, and toll-roads. There is no limit how much you can claim for these, as long as it can be demonstrated that they are reasonable and relate to your business journeys.

What you can't do though, is claim anything - i.e. neither mileage not CC/parking/tolls, for trips to or from your fixed place of work. So no parking receipts from outside the office...

It is therefore a good idea to keep an accurate log of your travels for which you claim business miles (and other expenses), in case the taxman shows interest. In general, these have to be trips done solely and wholly for the purpose of generating income for your business - e.g. travelling to see customers or suppliers, or carry on-site work away from the office.

Hope this helps....

And another thing.... as far as I am aware the only way NOT to pay any benefit-in-kind tax on a company car at all, is if (a) the car in question is a VAN that (b) stays in the company's car-park overnight i.e. not driven home or parked outside and employee's home address overnight.

 

[tylerdurden]

Hmmm...I'm not sure how it works if you're self-employed, but if the company pays for the car, then doesn't it become a company car on which you should pay benefit-in-kind tax?

personal car. Obviously I'm totally straight up with the claims and all receipts prove expenditure. No point trying to take the proverbial as its not worth the hassle