Claiming under 3 miles per day

[michael78]

Wondering if someone can clear this up please. I have been told by my new Umbrella company that I can't claim for mileage as I only do 3 miles one way and it has to be 4 miles minimum to claim mileage as a contractor. My old Umbrella company never siad I couldn't do this and this is my second contract with this company the first time around was using my old Umbrella company. Is this advice right. I know it doesn't account to much but it's better in my pocket than the taxmans.


Cheers in Advance

Michael

[Craig@Clarity]

Hi Michael,

I don't think there is a de minimis on mileage. It could possibly be the umbrella company setting their own limits on what they are prepared to process.

[ilovehr]

Sounds like whoever you spoke to at the Umbrella company either doesn't know what they're talking about or they can't be bothered processing mileage claims which are small.

You say it's not a lot and you're right but if you look at it as being worth about £125 a year for a basic rate tax payer doing 30 miles a week it's a few pints worth!

When I worked though a brolly some time ago, I was only travelleing about 2 miles from home to work and they were happy to process it.

I suggest you speak to someone else or switch umbrella.....

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I can't think of any accounting reason why your umbrella company would not be able to process your claim - have they said why it has to be a minimum of 4 miles?

[Clare@InTouch]

I can't think of any accounting reason why your umbrella company would not be able to process your claim - have they said why it has to be a minimum of 4 miles?

Do you think it might be because they are working on the basis of 25p x 4 = £1? Maybe they can't/don't want to cope with anything below that level....?

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Do you think it might be because they are working on the basis of 25p x 4 = £1? Maybe they can't/don't want to cope with anything below that level....?

Yes I think you're probably right Clare - maybe they set minimum expense claim thresholds just to reduce their admin and therefore their overheads - I certainly can't think of any other reason

[malvolio]

So the lesson is, if you don't want to be hidebound by silly rules and limitations, be your own boss...

IGMC...

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

So the lesson is, if you don't want to be hidebound by silly rules and limitations, be your own boss...

IGMC...

Or use a decent brolly! Stop dissing Mal

[RichardCranium]

it's better in my pocket than the taxman's.

Just make sure it gets included on your self assessment tax return.

[bangface]

I think it is to do with the rules imposed on them by the dispensation they have agreed with HMRC, so if they have said you cannot claim your travel because you live within a stones throw of the clients site then they are probably correct in a sense...I have had similar experiences with at least 2 brollies in the past that have said I could not claim travel because I lived to close to the client site (admittedly it was only a 2 mile distance and probably took me all of 20 minutes to walk it, but I chose to drive and as it only amounted to a few quid each week I wasn't too bothered!!).