AIBU to find this bizarre?

[Magicmumma]

Hi all,

I’m asking this on behalf of my DS.

DS is 18 and has a part time job at Tesco alongside his studies. He was recently at another store during one of his contracted shifts as part of compulsory training .

He has tried to claim mileage but Tesco won’t reimburse mileage unless the claimant can provide a fuel receipt.

I think this is bizarre considering not everybody will need to fill up they car after their commute to and from another store, DS certainly didn’t. Basically they’re saying without a receipt they can’t verify he actually worked in another store that specific day.

But, how can that be so? A fuel receipt only proves how much fuel was put in and how much it cost as well.

Considering mileage is paid per mile and not per litre of fuel, can they really refuse him his mileage?

Surely the fact he worked in another store is recorded on a computer system which should be enough proof he’s not just claiming mileage for the sake of it?

Am I right to to find this ridiculous?

It’s normal, though I agree a bit odd. They cannot reclaim the VAT without a receipt. It only needs to be roughly the right time though, just stick the next fuel receipt you or he gets in with the claim.

there still should be a record that he worked In the other store

Only a signing in sheet. Were there no other members of staff or any managers from his usual store at the store he trained at? Was there any transport to take him to the different store rather than his own car? Who has told him he can’t claim mileage? Was it his section manager or a different manager/HR manager?
Mileage would be from his usual store to the other stores &back rather than home to the other store & back home.

Could he not AA route finder the journey & screenshot & print the mileage & speak to someone else?

That’s a stupid policy. So he has to fill up his tank immediately before leaving his regular work place (what if there is no petrol station near it?) and then again immediately upon returning and not allowed to go anywhere else on his way home otherwise it’s not an accurate fuel bill.

When they could easily give him a price per mile and look up the distance on google maps.

The fuel receipt will be to reclaim vat

If the employer pays the employee the agreed HMRC milage rate where does VAT come into it? Tesco hasn't bought any fuel, what would they be reclaiming VAT on?

The only way that providing a fuel receipt would make any sense for accounting purposes is if you started with a full tank, did your journey and then filled up so that you had a receipt for the exact amount of fuel you used (and actually normal mileage payments also take into account wear and tear etc so are higher than the actual fuel you’ve used)
Whenever I’ve had to claim mileage you just fill in a form with amount of miles and you get reimbursed at whatever your companies rate per like is (and +5p if taking a passenger or work equipment)
DH used to have to give fuel receipts to work but that was because it was a company car and he filled it up using the company credit card.

It's not normal! I process staff expenses as part of my job and we never ask for fuel receipts for mileage claims.

As long as he deducts his usual commute and it's signed off by his manager it should be a valid claim.

I work for the NHS, submit monthly expenses and have done for many years. I have never had to submit a fuel receipt.

I provide receipts for train and taxi journeys (and food where appropriate) but never petrol.

Make no sense and it isn’t consumed instantly and does not prove the expenditure.

Very odd.

But @0blio you clearly don't work for Tesco why would your company's polocy be relevant. Surprisingly following a different employers rules won't get a claim accepted by Tesco, you don't really think that would work do you?

I have to give in fuel receipts when I want to claim mileage, but the receipt and the mileage claim date don't have to be the same. If I've just filled up my car, it could be 2-3 weeks before I get fuel again. No one has ever questioned it. Get him to put £10 in tomorrow and submit that receipt.

Yep, I travel a lot for work and usually put my expenses in monthly. I have to provide a fuel receipt from the month I’m claiming for. Something to do with VAT I believe. If I don’t provide a receipt my expenses are rejected.

I worked for Tesco’s many years ago and we had to give fuel receipts when we filled up the small delivery van. Made sense as we were claiming back the full cost of filling the tank for everyone to use.

I wonder have they got confused?

And pp's are right, ta nothing to do with the date, location, about of fuel he's used. It is purely so they can claim back the vat! So they will pay him (example only) 40p per mile bit get 5p back per mile from hmrc or something.

Read this

www.tmtaccounting.co.uk/blog/can-i-reclaim-vat-paying-45p-mileage-allowance

It basically says why they need it which is for VAT claiming back. They should (at least DH company does) take any receipt which shows fuel and then they give him back the amount of mileage he has used

I've never heard of providing a receipt unless you're using a company or rental car and had to refuel.

I used to work in AP and we covered travel expenses. If you had to go elsewhere for work, and you used your own vehicle, you claimed the mileage which is regulated by law. (I'm not in UK so if you're system is different that would be weird). You should be able to claim a certain amount per mile (in Germany it is 30 cents / kilometre)

I have to provide receipts for mileage but that's just for the accounting side/proof of a car but it can be any receipt. I sometimes take one of my OHs if I've forgotten to keep one aside

They need a fuel receipt so they can prove to the HMRC that it was a legitimate. He’d have to do the same if he was self employed.

I have to provide fuel receipts for mileage. They’ll accept any date in the month previous to the date of the journey. It’s fairly normal expenses procedure

I've always had to provide a fuel receipt across a number of different jobs. It only ever has to be dated the same month as the claim has been made and it's not on a receipt per claim basis. But a receipt showing a purchase of fuel that relates to the distances being claimed,

e.g. 2 journeys of 10 miles would be fine against 1 receipt for 15 quid, 1 journey of 400 miles would need to be for a bigger amount or multiple receipts.

Used to have to evidence your eligibility to drive - licence & and copy of insurance policy, with old employer. Otherwise, surely employer is responsible for reimbursing travel costs to another site, by whatever mode of transport they approved of, obvs receipt if used public transport.

Totally normal for accounting purposes. The receipt doesn't have to be dated the date of travel if that's what's worrying you. Always had to do this when employed and now she self-employed.

This is about five years ago, but when I started work for a supermarket I also had to work at another store for training/induction.
I seem to recall having to provide a one-off random receipt for the purchase of fuel, make & model details of my car and my home postcode. Once these were provided, I was reimbursed.

As others have said, it just needs to be a petrol station receipt. He’ll still get the 45p per mile for the actual journey.

Hi. I recently started working for Sainsbury's and they told me in my interview that this might happen. That was 3 months ago. So far, I haven't had to go to another store. But if I was asked, I'd say no (very limited time due to being a single parent) I reckon they try to take the piss out of younger staff (on account of them not having responsibilities)

Sorry. It's shit. And I see it every day.