Claiming fuel costs if use own car for work

qwerty1982

Hi guys,

Long shot here but wondering if any one can help.

I use my own car for work and get paid 30p a mile. The gov states it shoud be 45p a mile and if you are paid under this you can claim the rest back.
I have looked at the web site and i can ot work it out! Call me dumb but i cant!

Is this some thing done every month? Every Year?
And can you advise how I go about claiming it back?

Thanks

Stiff_Orange

I think you confused tax relief for mileage allowance.

If your company only pay 30p per mile that all you get, the government won't top that up.

What the HMRC sites refers to is tax allowance if you use you own car you are allowed to claim upto 45p per business mile (from your company) for the first 10000 miles without having to be pay tax on this, and up to 25p per business mile after this).

allen.coulson

Claim back annually as part of your tax return - claim as business mileage as a business expense in the tax form.

Note that you will have to document the trave if (when) the IR challenges you. Maybe you can use your expenses claim as support.

It cannot be for home to work travel and the journey must be wholey, necessarily and exclusively for business. Vists to customers, suppliers trade shows, hotel airport stuff like that. Visit to granny, whorehouse or Butlins with the kids is not claimable.

qwerty1982

Oh, maybe I have been misfed the info then! i was told I would be able to claim back the 15p!! i did think that was too good to be true!

Im not self emplyed so dont have a tax return so its just unlucky i suppose.

Stiff_Orange

It could be worth it.

If you claim for 10,000 miles at 30p that's £3000, which you probably claim back as expenses. If that goes through you payroll system it's may be that it's just added to your monthly gross salary and taxed at approx 25%. That's £750!

Anybody can fill in a tax return, just phone up you local tax office. However one you start they want you to do it every year, it's not to bad if you do it online.

Blacktemplar

You can claim tax relief on the difference between what your employer pays (30p/mile) and the HMRC allowance (45p/mile for the first 10,000 business miles, 25p/mile thereafter)

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/incometax/relief-mileage.htm

So if you travel 5,000 business miles in the year;

Your employer pays you £1,500
HMRC Allowance is £2,250
You can claim tax relief on the difference, ie £750 - in practice this means that if you are a 20% Income Tax payer, you will pay less tax (£150) in the next tax year.

You don't need to submit a full self-assessment tax form either, you just fill in Form P87 at the end of the tax year.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/p87.pdf

Make sure you (and your Accounts Department) keep a record of your mileage claims in case HMRC want evidence.

It's worth pointing out that if your business mileage varies significantly from year to year, you'll need to keep on top of HMRC, as they often make a hash of it.

If for example you claim tax relief on £750 for 2011/12 they will reduce your Tax Code accordingly in 2012/13. However they will then assume you do the same mileage in 2012/13 and will set your tax code to the same level for the following year. If you do a lot less miles in 2012/13, you will be underpaying tax at the start of 2013/14 until you tell them the new lower figure - do this as soon as possible after the start of the new tax year.

Simples!

qwerty1982

Blacktemplar
Thanks mate, will keep a note of this post and do the P87 form.

Thank you every one else as well )

Mr_Cellophane

Lots of things you can claim for that few people know about. I claim back the tax on leading Skyrides at 20p per mile (which includes the mileage getting there).
I should just about get away with avoiding Income Tax altogether this year.

verylonglegs

allen.coulson wrote:

Vists to customers, suppliers trade shows, hotel airport stuff like that. Visit to granny, whorehouse or Butlins with the kids is not claimable.

What kind of parent takes his kids with him on his visit to the whorehouse?!

Blacktemplar

Mr_Cellophane wrote:

I should just about get away with avoiding Income Tax altogether this year.

Is that why mine's so farkin' high then, you sponger, you.....?

(any good tips then?)