Reply to: Travel Expense

[FiveTimes]

I hear Mal soaks his gonads in boiling hot vinegar every night which his why he has balls of steel. Need to borrow a pan????

There is still time to change the mileage log

[northernladuk]

If its good enough for Mal, its good enough for me

I hear Mal soaks his gonads in boiling hot vinegar every night which his why he has balls of steel. Need to borrow a pan????

[FiveTimes]

If its good enough for Mal, its good enough for me

It took me a few weeks of driving around looking at places to stop but I never claimed any of those miles - maybe I should have

[northernladuk]

What you see as £1.60 per day, another person would see it as £192 over 6 months. May not be a hugh amount in the big scheme of things, but it does add up. If it were just 1 day, then I wouldn't claim £1.60, as it would cost me more to process the expense than to ignore it.

I can understand that, just wanted to play the devils advocate. To be totally honest with you if there was absolutely no chance of this falling foul of anything I would probably do the same, but even a sniff of something not right and I would happily forgo this. If I am going to get strung out for some problem with my accounts it won't be for £1.60 a day

Cheers.

[Sally BFCA]

What you see as £1.60 per day, another person would see it as £192 over 6 months. May not be a hugh amount in the big scheme of things, but it does add up. If it were just 1 day, then I wouldn't claim £1.60, as it would cost me more to process the expense than to ignore it.

Or £80 off your annual corporation tax bill

[pmeswani]

I have a suggestion on this from a slightly different perspective...

Bearing in mind this arrangement is a benefit to you over the travelling, and quite possibly financially as well.... claiming 4 miles.....£1.60??? Seriously?

Especially if there is even a sniff of this being incorrect or not strictly to the rules then why expose yourself?

Hope you don't have lodgings with that guy that was wondering how he can get a reciept from his local burger van for meals

What you see as £1.60 per day, another person would see it as £192 over 6 months. May not be a hugh amount in the big scheme of things, but it does add up. If it were just 1 day, then I wouldn't claim £1.60, as it would cost me more to process the expense than to ignore it.

[pmeswani]

My initial reply was in answer to the question posed. I'm with the people that agree that if the trip is wholly a business expenses, then it is allowable in total.

Thanks for all the responses so far. I feel a lot easier now about claiming the cost.

[northernladuk]

I have a suggestion on this from a slightly different perspective...

Bearing in mind this arrangement is a benefit to you over the travelling, and quite possibly financially as well.... claiming 4 miles.....£1.60??? Seriously?

Especially if there is even a sniff of this being incorrect or not strictly to the rules then why expose yourself?

Hope you don't have lodgings with that guy that was wondering how he can get a reciept from his local burger van for meals

[Sally BFCA]

So I travel 142 miles from home to clientco - fine.

However I have lodgings that are 2 miles from site as I want to stop close by in order to get in early, work late.

Am I not able to claim the 4 mile round trip ?

My initial reply was in answer to the question posed. I'm with the people that agree that if the trip is wholly a business expenses, then it is allowable in total.

[pmeswani]

So I travel 142 miles from home to clientco - fine.

However I have lodgings that are 2 miles from site as I want to stop close by in order to get in early, work late.

Am I not able to claim the 4 mile round trip ?

Depends on whether your lodgings is your primary / registered address. If I were in your situation (assuming I understood how you defined lodgings), then yes I would claim. But as my home is my primary starting point, in this scenario, I am uncertain if the travel is claimable (which is what I am seeking to clarify).

I have a feeling that yours and Mal's post has answered my question, but would love to get some clarification though.

[malvolio]

So I travel 142 miles from home to clientco - fine.

However I have lodgings that are 2 miles from site as I want to stop close by in order to get in early, work late.

Am I not able to claim the 4 mile round trip ?

Don't see why not. I do.

[FiveTimes]

Hmmm

Strange, I saw this only last week on HMRC website, now the page has gone.

I think, and this needs clarifying, that it is 7 miles. I will post a link if I can find it.

So I travel 142 miles from home to clientco - fine.

However I have lodgings that are 2 miles from site as I want to stop close by in order to get in early, work late.

Am I not able to claim the 4 mile round trip ?

[pmeswani]

You won't if you have a travel card for business use and a separate one for personal use. Otherwise you fail the "wholly and exclusively" test.

Fair point. Looks like I will need to get another Oyster card in that case. No major loss. I will claim the travel expenses and if I get caught (or someone can provide info that says I can't), then I will pay the money back to the business.

[malvolio]

This is what I thought would be the case.

I am sure I saw somewhere (but cannot find the info) that there was something about "reasonable expense", hence the question. I tend to buy Weekly / Monthly travelcards to keep the overall cost down (even though it can be argued that I could use it for personal travel, but wouldn't have bought it if I weren't travelling to clientco for 5 of the 7 days).

The place of contract is about 5 miles (door to door and based on Google Maps), and want to make sure that I don't fall foul of HMRC if I put the receipts through expenses.

You won't if you have a travel card for business use and a separate one for personal use. Otherwise you fail the "wholly and exclusively" test.

[pmeswani]

I agree with Mal on this one - if you have incurred a cost that is directly and wholly atributable to the contract then it should be claimable as an expense

This is what I thought would be the case.

I am sure I saw somewhere (but cannot find the info) that there was something about "reasonable expense", hence the question. I tend to buy Weekly / Monthly travelcards to keep the overall cost down (even though it can be argued that I could use it for personal travel, but wouldn't have bought it if I weren't travelling to clientco for 5 of the 7 days).

The place of contract is about 5 miles (door to door and based on Google Maps), and want to make sure that I don't fall foul of HMRC if I put the receipts through expenses.