Business Credit Card for Fuel?

[boxman]

I have a strong balance sheet and I suspect that FR VAT registration is a handy tool for HMRC to latch on to. So FR VAT is not for me - too many non-contract clients and investment in my business makes this unattractive. Thanks for the thought though

[PAG]

I got an Arval (previously AllStar) card for the business and I charge all of my fuel back to the company. At the financial year end (i.e. now) I'll look to see how many business miles I've done and then decide whether it's going to pay to take the fuel as a BIK (usually not a good deal) or pay the money back / debit my directors loan account for the total cost.

I only got the card really because of the changes in VAT recording for fuel but it's worked out well. The card cost £1 + VAT per month I believe. As my mileage and all VAT records are on the Arval account it makes the expense and VAT aspects relatively straightforwards.

Are you not registered as Flat Rate VAT ?? It may be worth considering, providing you don't have much input VAT.

[boxman]

I got an Arval (previously AllStar) card for the business and I charge all of my fuel back to the company. At the financial year end (i.e. now) I'll look to see how many business miles I've done and then decide whether it's going to pay to take the fuel as a BIK (usually not a good deal) or pay the money back / debit my directors loan account for the total cost.

I only got the card really because of the changes in VAT recording for fuel but it's worked out well. The card cost £1 + VAT per month I believe. As my mileage and all VAT records are on the Arval account it makes the expense and VAT aspects relatively straightforwards.

[DaveB]

And it's only 40p per mile for the first 10,000 miles in the financial year, 25p per mile thereafter. Milage count resets at 1st April.

[Bluebird]

if you're ltd co, then your "place of work" is your reg office, so you can claim from "your reg office" to the client site - providing you do not know you'll be there for more than 24 months...

[gord0n]

place of work

Building on your interesting exchange about charging mileage for traveling to your clients site, my accountant is saying that as 19 out of 20 days will be onsite at my clients office, I probably couldn't claim 40p per mile for getting there.

I understand that claiming the 40p per mile is the right way to go, but can I claim it at all?

Rgds

Gord0n

[youngguy]

Anything can be claimed, it's whether or not you should pay tax on it as a BIK.

It's a business expense if you are doing it because it is wholly necessary for your business. If it isn't, or there is any dout about whether it is or not, it isn't a business expense. So going to pick up your new PC from the supplier is OK, but picking it up as part of the week's shopping isn't. Going to work at your client's site is clearly a business expense.

Incidentally, if you're not on Flat Rate VAT (although you really ought to be), you should allow roughly 1p per 40p as input VAT on your quarterly return: there is VAT on the fuel cost but not the duty element, HMRC allow 1p-2p to cover that.
Seriously, most of the time you'll be haggling over a few quid. It's not worth the grief, if in doubt don't claim it.

Thanks, as you say, for the sake of a couple of quid (not to mention the extra time to calculate and log) it prob isn't worth it.

I plan to claim for my main expenses - set mileage to train station and train and tube fare. I will pretty much ignore most other things (apart from purchase of course) as it keeps lief simple and there is no doubt that these are not BIK

[malvolio]

Anything can be claimed, it's whether or not you should pay tax on it as a BIK.

It's a business expense if you are doing it because it is wholly necessary for your business. If it isn't, or there is any dout about whether it is or not, it isn't a business expense. So going to pick up your new PC from the supplier is OK, but picking it up as part of the week's shopping isn't. Going to work at your client's site is clearly a business expense.

Incidentally, if you're not on Flat Rate VAT (although you really ought to be), you should allow roughly 1p per 40p as input VAT on your quarterly return: there is VAT on the fuel cost but not the duty element, HMRC allow 1p-2p to cover that.
Seriously, most of the time you'll be haggling over a few quid. It's not worth the grief, if in doubt don't claim it.

[youngguy]

Apologies for being slow but just to confirm (this draws together a couple of threads I've been looking at on this forum)


I pay for fuel out of my personal account

I complete a spreadsheet which logs the mileage for business use
-Client (project)
-Reason
-Date
-From
-To
-Miles
-Total Miles (since FY)

I keep petrol receipt and then pay myself expenses for all business use at a rate of 40p per mile.

One other question - what counts as business use? Is it just travelling from business site (home) to the client sit (or on my case the train station) or can it include times when the car is used for business use, as an example could I calim if I went to PC world to pick up my new business comptuer?

[Ratty]

Nice one. Luckily I have only done this for a few weeks. Thanks for the quick responce. Will have to start adding more questions....

[malvolio]

You have forgotten the golden rule - company money and your money are two different things. Never, ever confuse them.

Fuel for the car is about the one thing you should never pay through the company if it is not a company vehicle in the first place and you are paying the appropriate tax already. Any other business expenses - hotels, railfares, meals, company purchases - are much easier to manage if paid directly by the company
The money paid out will be treated as a BIK unless repaid, so the easy way is to do a reverse expense claim and send a cheque to YourCo for the whole cost.

[Ratty]

This question was almost answered the other day, but not quite.....
Applied for Buisness overdraft but was convinced to take out Credit card. This ok but I have now paid for fuel on the card but recently been told that this is a big no as this will impose that the company pays for fuel and not me!!! Is this correct and if so how do I pay it back?