Calling any Self Employed Sole Traders who Lease a Car

[ninetieseyebrows]

So confused, really could use some help on this please.

I'd like to lease a car - it's a hybrid with 112-115g/km CO2 emissions.

I'm a sole trader, I use the car for essential work reasons for 50% of the time I use the car (not commuting, delivering my product)

I could use the 45p a mile simplified rate, but I wondered if I can claim 50% of the lease fee plus 50% of the fuel, the latter would definitely be more of a claim.

Is this correct though, to claim 50% of the fee. I'm a bit confused, there's a lot of conflicting information out there. Also another point - do I have to take a business lease out in order to claim or can I still claim if it's a personal lease.

Thank you in advance!

If you use flat rate, that’s all you can claim so you’d need to do the Maths to see the differance.
If you claim full expenses, you claim 50% of anything car cost related, fuel/ insurance/tax etc. You would need to track business mileage meticulously.

Using your business account for fuel? you would have to account for private use in your tax return, although I doubt they’d quibble about 50%.
Personal lease or Business lease should be fine, although I think you have to deduct 15% if the co2 rate is over 110gms , so you could only claim 42.5% for business use.

I assume you are not VAT registered?

My DH is a sole trader and I do his accounts.

Oh thank you @BorgQueen that's so helpful!
I definitely think the actual costs would come to more than 45p a mile.
No not vat registered never felt I needed to, or have I got this wrong?
So just to be clear, my monthly lease payments- I can claim 50% of those too, on top of the fuel, insurance, tax etc?

You have to be VAT registered if your turnover is £85k+ in a rolling 12 month period. DH deliberately stays under the limit to avoid the hassle.

Yes, you claim 50% of all car related costs with the proviso above about co2 emissions dictating lease expenses.
We claim full expenses rather than flat rate as DH bought a Van when he started up , I use cash basis accounting so could just claim the full amount in his first year’s self assessment rather than using reducing capital allowances over a few years.
Vans are also treated differently than cars.

that's amazing thank you so much for your help - really appreciate it. Thats made things so much clearer for me.