Shall we have a 'useful tips' about life in the Forces thread?

[laura032004]

I'll kick it off:

1. Has your DP/DH claimed back all the extra money from the taxman for when he does journeys in his/her own car? You can claim for any mileage that is compensated by the Forces, unless it's a training course. So when DH moved jobs recently, but we stayed in our quarter (short term job), he claimed home to duty mileage. Because the Forces reimburse less than 40p per mile, you can claim the difference back. It was a really simple form, and the sums can really add up if your OH has done any significant travelling. If you ring up the tax office, they send you the form and all the info required.

1. Do you know about the Forces Discount brochure? See here for more information.

1. Have you heard about the welfare accomodation? List here. This is the directory of welfare accomodation throughout the UK (and some overseas), which you can book. It is primarily for divorced parents to use to have contact with their children if they live in the mess, but anybody can book it (on the proviso that if they need it for a welfare case, your booking may be cancelled). We've used it for family get togethers, weekends away....

what kind of proof do you need for claiming back petrol, dh has used my car quite a few times for travelling up and down from his posting to the house but we dont keep recipts.

It's dead easy. Phone up your HM Revenue and Customs Office (get the number from the HMRC website - you can find out which office you belong to by looking at the bottom of your payslip) Explain the situation and they send you a one page form specifically designed for HM forces and mileage claims. There are a few sums required but it breaks down as:

1. How many duty miles did you do?
2. How much did the MoD reimburse you.
3. What is the difference between the amount reimbursed and the amount permissible? (x no of miles multiplied by 40p).

I sent mine back about a month ago. The only downside is that they can take their time in responding. I tried to chase them but all they would do is acknowledge receipt and not give time scales.

I was travelling 70 miles each way for 6 months as my appointment was changed at short notice. Quite a bit due back.

Sorry if the language sounds different but it's Laura's "dh" here doing his first MumsNet post: Laura is busy feeding the boys!!!

Thank you laura/laura's DH
That's great advice about the mileage - DH drives a 70 mile round trip each day as we're now in our own house. He gets home to duty but it doesn't cover his costs, so every little helps. Why do they not tell you about these things??
Best discount is Krispy Kreme donuts - 1/3 off

A quick P.S! It's only valid for Temporary appointments. In the Taxman's eyes that is anything less than 24 months. Sorry for not saying earlier!!! Forgot....

They don't tell you about tax because the Forces consider it a personal matter between you and the taxman. UPOs/personnel offices are no longer allowed to give finanacial advice (unlike the old days!) There are some good people out there - I have just moved from Devonport Naval Base and the Cash Officer did put a big thing on the intranet about claiming tax back but that was purely off his own back; it's all really hit and miss.

It's a bummer and the whole thing would be a lot better if we were just paid the flat rate of 40p like in the real world!!!! Good luck!

Damn, it's a 2 1/2 yr posting - typical!

If your a first time buyer you can get a loan of up to 8000.00 from the forces it is called lsap, there are many constraints to it. We borrowed 4999.00 to avoid paying tax on it! and used it with our savings for our house deposit. I have heard nightmare stories about it taking time to come through etc but it all ran smooth for us! Sorry this is vague as I am mere wife of serving soldier and he dealt with it! Hope this may help or start the ball rolling for some of you! x

Other than 'don't do it, marry a civvie!'

1)we bought an annington house years ago, given lots of help from them to do it easily,we rent it out, it's been a good investment.

2)SSAFA Stepping Stones homes - if for whatever reason you need them, they are just brilliant

3. If you have a problem go to AWS not UWO. i Have found them to be more compassionate, non judgemental, and helpful

4. Most non forces people will have a great deal of difficulty understanding your life

5. Good luck on the Army sports lottery, we have never won a penny, we do better on scratch cards

sorry bit army bias from me

We took the LSAP last year to help bump up our deposit for a house and it all went through smoothly. We also took £5,000, to avoid paying tax on it.

As for the Army Sports Lottery, well we won a significant sum last year, so you never know!

If your DH/DP is a member of a professional body like RUSI or IET in my DHs case, you can claim back part of the costs of these subscriptions through HMRC. Just stick 'em on your Tax Return, and they'll adjust the notice of coding for you.

If you are renting out your house as you are overseas, get your rent paid gross by filling in a non-resident landlord declaration, and it should be tax free. Try to ensure that your mortgage interest is greater than the rent received, and the rent is then tax free, and put everything you can against the rent; costs from letting agents; any maintenance you do on the property - last year I had mine redecorated just after I moved overseas, that counted; the electrical test and subsequent work counted, as did maintenance of the boiler, replacing windows etc. I made a paper loss of around £5,000, which is then carried forward and set against this years liability which will be a loss again, so we should never have to pay tax on the rent.

If you jointly own the property, then you have to each declare any income from rent on an annual tax return, but only the 50% that applies to you. The only way that the non-earner can get the total rent as income is to change the proportion of the property that they own, which involves solicitors and expense.

I'm not a tax officer, but somehow, having worked for the Revenue for a year when I was 19, I have ended up doing all the tax stuff for DH for the past 23 years...plus the fact that it's paperwork, and he hates that, which is why he never claimed for all that mileage!

Don't forget about service issue furniture. We've got all the new range, and I think it's really nice. Fab quality and would cost a fortune in the shops. You have to pay to rent it, but I think in the long term it works out the same as replacing things every few moves.

Also, you can get cots, high chairs, stair gates, without having to pay the hire charge (I think), as they're classed as temporary items. Every cot we've had has come with a brand new mattress, and they've all been Mamas and Papas cots. We've got our own, but my mum always gets one (my dad's in the RAF) for when we go to stay.

DS1 has also got a lovely set of sturdy pine bunkbeds.

I found the best way was to go into the stores myself, and have a good look at everything to decide what I wanted before ordering.

Our house was completely furnished with service furniture (old style - ugh!) when we first married and we gradually replaced bits and pieces over the years. We're now in our own house and have all our own furniture.

I know plenty of people who have bought service furniture when the stores have a sale - ideal for kids as the stuff is pretty indestructible!

Up until this move we had all of our own furniture. However, we had two moves in 5 weeks (Cornwall to Portsmouth to Plymouth), and I think it 'killed' a lot of our stuff. We also had a really bad move here, and a lot of stuff got broken or damaged by the removals company

We've now got service:
bookcases
drawers
dressing table
bedside tables

and all are really lovely. If I ever saw the old stuff on sale I'd buy it up in an instant though, because as you say, it's indestructible. My mum has got stuff in her quarter dating back to the 50's, and it's still in absolutely great condition. That's even though it's probably been moved in and out of houses a few times. Why doesn't IKEA stuff last like that?

Does everyone know that we can now buy childcare vouchers? Sodexho run the salary sacrifice scheme on our behalf and by buying the vouchers we can save as much as £1000 a year in tax and NI contributions. The web site is www.modchildcare.co.uk and the instructions are very easy to follow.

Laura, who did your move? We had Whites to move us from Cornwall to Brussels, and the only loss I had was a Dartington vase...good excuse to go the Barbican the next time I'm back!

We have Service wardrobes, but out here we get the Army stuff from Germany which is why we brought all our own stuff from our house. I couldn't sit on nylon sofa covers for upwards of 4 years...yeuch!

Sweetpeasmum, I think you have to look carefully at whether the childcare vouchers are worth it...there was a thread on ARRSE which seemed to say that at a certain level of salary, you'd lose out.

Is that something to do with vouchers and some sort of tax credit? Think they may 'counteract' each other? Not sure because we aren't eligible for any of the credit, but we are both eligible for childcare vouchers and they rock! DH gets his through the new forces scheme as mentioned, and I get them my employer. Apparently we save about £2k a year.

I just saw it on ARRSE...DS at secondary school, so we don't need the childcare vouchers, but someone had posted on there that it would lose them money.

I agree with notyummy, they certainly do rock. If you don't qualify for working family tax credits, and depending on your tax bracket, they can save you up to £1200 per employed person per year.

Is laura032004 or her DH still around?

Does the tax relief on mileage apply to journeys made to meetings etc when they are scattered around the country, or is it just residence to place of duty?

MHS Compensation

Is everyone aware that you can claim £20 in shopping vouchers from MHS when they fail to turn up for an appointment?

All you need to do is say you want compensation when you call the Helpline to say they failed to show. You will receive a letter saying you are being considered for compensation and a couple of weeks later the vouchers will arrive recorded delivery.

Our house needed lots of work when we arrived in August and by Christmas I had over £200 of vouchers, which says a lot about the poor service we get from MHS!

MOGs - yes I think it does. So long as it's not training, then it's fine. DH says he will dig out the paperwork today to check the exact wording. [don't hold your breath emoticon ]

Good point about the compensation. Really pleased they've done this, as we get messed around so much.