First Previous - Page 1 of 1 - Next Last

Can I claim mileage in simplified expenses?

  • 8 posts
  • # 114778

Hello,

I am trying a printed 'mock' self assessment ready for April as I went self employed in September 2016 and want to be prepared.

I seem to be getting conflicting information as to whether I can claim my mileage or not.

I am a sole trader so my business is registered at home. I travel to three clients on a weekly basis to work on their premises.

HMRC's website says you cannot claim for travelling to a place of work, but you can claim for business mileage at 45p a mile for 10,000 miles and 25p after that. Technically bookkeepers are both, we travel to the place of work but we also do this for business use.

I would like to claim this, as by the 5th April I will have around £2,000 to claim which will help the amount of tax I have to pay.

What is the correct thing to do?

Kind regards,

Marie.

  • Fellow
  • Practice Licence
  • 44 posts
  • # 114781

Hi Marie

To be able to claim travel expenses they must satisfy the rule that the expense is wholly necessarily and exclusively incurred for the purposes of the trade. You must also consider that travel to & from your workplace is not allowable

To be able to satisfy the rule you will need to determine your work base. You don't mention if you have other clients & whether you carry out bookkeeping also from your home office or if it is just for these clients you travel to, this will be an important consideration. To demonstrate that your home address is your work base would need more than the business to be registered there but it would also need to be an integral part of your trade.  This would vary from trade to trade as various cases show but in your instance you would need to be carrying out bookkeeping at your home office to establish this.  If your only bookkeeping is for the three clients you travel to then your home would not be considered your workplace and therefore the travel would not be allowable.

There are a few cases where HMRC have scrutinised travel expenses & whether the expenses claimed pass the rules, Newsom v Robertson (1953) is similar to your situation if you don’t carry out any other bookkeeping from home, some other cases of interest are Horton v Young (1971)  Powell v Jackman (2004)  Samadian v R & C Commissioners [2014]

I personally find reading cases makes the rules clearer so I hope this helps!

Lisa

First Previous - Page 1 of 1 - Next Last
bottomBanner
loading