Can I claim my car insurance back?

[MushroomTree]

Hi all,

I work from home but my car is insured for business use as I use it to drive to meetings with clients.

Does this mean I can claim my car insurance back as an expense when I do my tax return?

And how would I get a receipt? I do all of my car insurance things online.

Thanks

You can print off proof online and you can claim the % that relates to business travel i.e. if 50% of your mileage is business travel then 50% of the insurance can be claimed. Perhaps you need to see an accountant as you can also claim capital allowances on your car, and if you do not know what they are then you DO need an accountant.

Thanks.

I do intend to talk to my account but I just thought I'd ask here first in case there was a really simple answer.

If you are a sole trader you can either claim a percentage of your car costs, or if you like to keep things simple, just claim 45p allowance which is taken off your profits before tax. I find the latter much simpler, I just keep a record of all my business miles.

Agree with world. My accountant advised not trying to claim for costs associated with the car as it can get you into a world of complications down the line. Easiest to just claim for mileage

I claim for the mileage already. I just wondered whether I could claim for the insurance as well because obviously it costs me more to have it insured for business use than it would if it was insured for personal use.

As I understood it if you incur any costs purely for your business that you wouldn't have if you didn't have the business you should claim for.

Those accountants telling you to just claim the 45p per mile should ALSO
be checking that you are not loosing out and should check your actual costs. IMO this can be a lazy way out, both costs need calculating, as well as the capital allowance situation and you should claim the most beneficial to you. There is not 'a world of complications down the line' if you submit correct figures.

I didn't think you could claim for both?

I'm surprised you have it insured for business use if you just use it for travelling to meetings - I've just been looking at car insurance online and I am going for social, domestic and commuting

There is the reverse way of doing it. All my car costs go through the business (as a sole trader) and then the percentage that s personal use is allocated against my drawings (after VAT has been reclaimed).
There are fuel scale charges etc to use, but if you ave any level of complexity in your accounts that need an accountant the cost of them doing this or you is massively outweighed by the benefit to you.

I have also used my car to make deliveries for a client which takes me outside of the personal, domestic, commuting category.

I've got a meeting with my accountant this morning to clarify the situation.