self employed people - how much do you give yourself for mileage when you fill in your tax return?

[Cappuccino]

I'm just looking at how many miles I did and trying to work out a figure per mile to knock off my meagre 'profit'

any ideas what's acceptable?

I'm quite sure its 40p per mile up to 10,000 miles a year (it was last year anyway). It then drops quite a bit, will see if i can find a link.

Haven't done this years yet - think it was 40p last year but it depends on engine size I think. Check out the inland revenue website. I'd do a link but it takes me ages to find it every year and I can't be arsed

It is 40p for the first 10,000 miles then 25p for any mileage thereafter. It does not depend on engine size. This per mile allowance covers all your repairs, maintenance, car tax etc. There is nothing extra that you can claim as it is not a company car.

40p??

good grief

the first year I gave myself about 15p because the woman at the IR said 'just to work out how much you think it cost'

and I did loads of miles that year

RoundtheBend is spot on

this year I have done about 47 pigging miles

< note to self - get work which is based further away >

it's all here

you are lovely lovely people

you are far lovelier than the silly bleeding woman in the IR office

do you think you could count mileage to and from the swimming pool if you are thinking about a project at the time?

Cappuccino, you can reclaim the difference. Just put in another "expense" claim for mileage underclaimed in the previous year. Not a problem. As long as you do not go over the 40p at all, the mileage does not have to be declared as an expense on your tax return.

Don't forget to add in mileage for trips to the post office, the bank, when you had to go and get supplies of stationery etc (the fact that it also involved a trip to buy an outfit or shoes does not matter!) As long as you have a receipt for an item you purchased to use in the business, you can claim the mileage it took to get it.

So... how come my accountant does something different then? He charges a percentage of all my car costs - reckoned that would work out as a better deal.
He's not the best at explaining his working...

Speaking as an accountant sometimes it works better to claim a percentage of the actual rather than use the mileage rate. What we do is work out both and then use the highest figure. Normally only do this the first year. I would imagine it depends which vehcile you have as to which is best. Ie some cars have higher tax, ins etc so actual maybe the way to go. Oh and it would also make a difference if the majority of miles are done for business ie the percentage use of the vehicle is high.

OK, ive just registered as Selfemployed, selling things on ebay, frequent trips to P.O how do I account for these. I may but £30 in my car but only 34 of this will be on a reciept.

I mean say £4 use for nipping about to P.O etc, gettng stock.

Charliecat, they way it works is there are 2 options,

1)you write down your business miles for each year. Then the first 10,000 is at 40p and the remaining is at 25p.

2)you write down everything for the car. Tax, insurance, petrol, repairs etc etc. Then you estimate how many of the total miles done for the year was for business and how many were private. Then you take the total expenses and include the business percentage eg 15%

I would say that for you just running to the post office etc option 1 would be easiest. Especially if you use the same post office each time. All you need do is note the mileage once then note down how many times you go.

HTH

Thank you, I would need to ring up ins co and say oh im using this for business purposes now?

Not sure about the insurance charliecat. Maybe someone else'll see this thread and answer

You would need class 1 business insurance

IMO - You would be better claiming the 40p a mile probably - for low mileage it normally is

How much more will that put on my ins? Will it be worth it, and hello KM, me again LOL

Normally it's a £10 or £15 admin fee

It might be more but often isn't

That would be a business expense btw

(Hi-waves)

Oh wooohooo...thanks KM