SELF-EMPLOYED MOTOR EXPENSES EXPLAINED!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- Self employed and wondering what motor expenses you can offset against your tax? In this video Dan talks about what you can claim for.
Topics include:
Car expenses uk
Self employed van expenses
Self employed travel expenses
Vehicle expenses
Tax deductible car expenses
What you can claim for tax self employed
What counts as business travel
Base of operations
Self employed expenses uk
Tax claim expenses
… and more!
If you have any questions on this, please comment below.
You can see more about what we get up to on the following:
LinkedIn (Dan): / danheelan
Instagram (Dan): / danheelan
Podcast: heelanhub.co.uk The HeelanHub Podcast, a show for small business owners.
Join our mailing list for tax tips at: www.heelanassociates.co.uk
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Twitter (Company): / heelanassocs
Web: www.heelanassociates.co.uk
Call: 02392 240040 Email: info@heelanassociates.co.uk
#accounting #taxreturn #tax #selfemployed
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Nice video.
Thank you 👍👍👍🥂🥳
Glad you enjoyed :)
such a great video Do you have any videos about changes in bookkeeping after brexit?
Not as such, do you have any particular questions you'd like to see covered?
It's been 45p per mile for over 20 years, fuel and insurance costs have risen exponentially in that time. Why has this not been increased to reflect actual current costs?
I know! Crazy. It’s just not had government pressure I guess. Certainly should rise.
Hi Dan, really useful video thank you.
I have been doing mine as the more complex way you explained, using a spreadsheet i built to input all my vehicle costs (fuel, insurance, lease costs, etc) and then inputting my amount of business miles which my spreadsheet then works out the percentage of business/personal usage.
One question I do have which I cant seem to find the answer to anywhere on the internet - my personal vehicle is a 5 year lease, which I also use as a landscaper for work. I paid an £X amount deposit and then I pay monthly rental payments for 5 years. How do I I insert this into my monthly costs?
Currently I have it so the deposit I paid is divided by 60 (12 months x 5years) and spread into a monthly fee rather than a bulk fee, and then the monthly fee is added on and the business percentage then tells me how much of that cost is business.
eg. say for argument sake I paid a £600 deposit, it would be £10 per month for the deposit over the 60 months, and say the rental was £200 per month, that makes my total lease £210 per month, then say my business usage of the car is 50%, I can therefore claim £105 as business expenses.
Is this an okay method of doing it?
If you are usual actual costs basis, you need to consider 'Capital Allowances' where the overall cost of the vehicle is concerned.
It looks at the actual price of the car and you might find you need to do 2 things, a calculation of interest for your expenses in the tax return and a calculation of the capital allowances for the tax relief of the price of the vehicle.
Its so hard to explain I couldn't do it in a comment, but perhaps start reading this www.heelanassociates.co.uk/self-employed-motor-expenses-basics/
Hi, a really useful video. The one grey area though for me is if you are a van driver can you claim mileage from the last delivery point to home or not?
If your home was your base of operations it’s likely.
Hi Dan, Please do you have video on limited company as well?
This is the closet one: th-cam.com/video/X48Lxj-FeN0/w-d-xo.html
Hi Dan, thanks for your videos - they are an excellent source of information. I work as a gardener and have clients in several villages. Am I able to claim for my mileage on them? I was confused by the 'base of operations' part of the video. I do the accounts from home and store the tools there but i do go regularly to most of my clients. Then there is also what to do about when I visit a friend after work near to one of the gardens, do I have to take a tiny amount off for personal use, for driving there on my way home from work?! Trying to get this right! Many thanks.
Pretend you are employed an your boss is anal about your mileage. Your base of operation sounds like your home as your client locations aren't "regular and predictable".
Hi Dan, recently found your channel as about too go self employed and your videos are top notch and informative. Im mainly going to be working for one client who are going to be paying me a mileage allowance. Can I then still claim a mileage allowance on my tax?
Keep up the great work
Hi Tom glad you enjoyed. Yes and you probably should as anything they pay you is taxable, so you want to claim the mileage cost in your company to offset the money they pay you for the mileage, effectively making it tax neutral.
Hi @@HeelanAssociatesThanks for the advice and getting back to me, its highly appreciated
Hi, great videos 👍
My question is how much of a purchase of a work vehicle can I put against tax as a sole trader
It depends on which type of method you use to account for motor costs. There is something called capital allowances that normally give you a % of the cost of vehicle each year.
Would need another video to explain this one!
Dan. Great video thx. I've just started a Partnership Electricians busines with a friend an found your videos really helpful. On the mileage claim topic, we both bought our own vans before trading so think this is probably our best choice. Is the 45p mileage rate up to 10,00 miles valid for each van in our case or just the busines? It looks like we will do around 7 to 8k miles per year.
It's for each personal claiming.
@@HeelanAssociates Thanks Dan. However having thought the 45p per mile would be the best choice for us I've seen another of your videos which suggest we may be able to claim the full cost of the vans so now I'm not sure. We bought each van privately with our own funds (£15k for both) a few months before we started trading. Would they count as a Capital allowance expense?
Hi Dan, thank you for these really informative videos. You mention at the beginning that business use is travelling for the purpose of work but not necessarily to a place of work. I work in a salon self employed but only two to three days and so I guess I can’t claim. Does this mean I can’t claim for anything on my car at all. I.e tax, mot, fuel.
Also if you were to be able to claim on your car, but your insurance isn’t set to business use, would this mean you can’t claim either (even if your car is used for business use)
Many thanks
The insurance could be a sticking point during an inspection, as it can help evidence your intended use of the car. It's not black and white though.
Effective communing to a regular and predictable 'base of operations' like the salon is not likely to be claimable, that's correct.
If you do mobile work though or trips from salon to houses to cut hair, these might be claimable.
If no trips qualify as business use, then in reality then there wont be a claim for car costs (you could claim but would have to disallow a proportion for non business use, which in this case would be 100%!)
Hope that some help!
Hi Dan so this is something completely separate but just thought I’d comment on your most recent video, this one seems to be an absolute nightmare for TH-camrs the world over and it’s withholding tax - so I’m a TH-camr and when I received my first Adsense payment I was hit with £114 withholding tax (see: Chapter 3 withholding under sections 1441-1443 generally applies a 30% statutory rate of withholding to payments of FDAP income or gains from U.S. sources but only if they are not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business made to a payee that is a foreign person.)
But I had completed the W8 Ben which meant the U.K. tax treaty for 0% should be working but wasn’t.
On a side not I completed that W8 Ben as an individual as my TH-cam account is an individual one not company but I’m thinking maybe I should have done the entity as I’ve setup a limited company for all of my TH-cam income. So I was wondering if you could perhaps make a video on how to fill in that form whether individual or company, maybe shed some light on why i STILL got hit even though did the form! And also when should fill as individual and when as a company. Thanks for all the videos you do!
PS tried to tag you in this video but couldn’t see how. This guy spoke to 3 accountants who were still struggling to help him apparently and he mentions linking your business if you’d like: th-cam.com/video/hu6w7Bz5DlQ/w-d-xo.html
Thanks! I watched the video, not surprised it was a struggle tbh. Its very much a US tax thing, even I had to bust out the good old tax treaty to remind myself what to do again this year. Its why most UK accountants won't know the answer (unless they do TH-cam etc themselves, or have clients doing it).
Most of the difficulty is understanding the form itself!
I am actually thinking about doing a vid on this with a US CPA or similar, think it would be a good one.
@@HeelanAssociates ok thanks Dan. Can I please work with your company to help me setup. I initially spoke with Belinda but I need to make sure I get an accountant who understands this stuff. I’ll send a follow up email on the previous correspondence
Great vid, very well explained!
I just have one question - when doing monthly bookkeeping on accountancy software, say I want to put fuel down as an expense on a car that is personal and private use - do I have to work out the business proportion percentage each month on the total cost of these fuel receipts and input it in to the system? Or is this something that the accountant does at the end of year with regards to my bookkeeping of just inputting full cost fuel receipts?
I am currently learning bookkeeping but it's things like this that get me overthinking. Many thanks in advance! 🤞
Hi Kathleen it depends on a few things, like how you keep your records and how your accountant wants to work.
For example if you are in a simple spreadsheet you might want to show just the business proportion.
If you are software it’s likely you need to account for whole transaction (depending how you book keep it) and then advice accountant about what you consider business/personal when it comes to drawing up year end accounts and tax
@@HeelanAssociates thank you, that makes a whole lot of sense! Subscribed to this excellent channel ☺️
@@KathleenInnes Glad to hear it! :- )
Hi, Great videos. I wondered if you could advise me regarding travel. I am a ceramicist doing most of my work from home. I travel to a studio to use other facilities can I claim this as mileage or is it another base of operations? I also attend classes at the same studio to improve my existing skills- can I claim for the miles for this? Thanks
Hi Melody,
We can't give specific 1-2-1 advice here, but more commentary here: www.heelanassociates.co.uk/ha-137-travel-costs-for-the-self-employed/
A lot comes down to whether your travel to the studio is seen as 'regular and predictable'. A leading tax case involving a doctor and hospitals hung on these details.
If you could do a video on car/van allowances then that would be great. Also assuming if you claim the purchase of the van/car then you can’t then claim mileage over the lifetime of owning it?
If you are claiming the cost under ‘capital allowances’ the yeah you are choosing the actual cost method.
Hi Dan, great video. I was wondering if you could give me an idea what I can do in my situation. Im an electrician and for the last five years I have been employed by a company but their mileage allowance is less than recommended rate by half. Over the last four years I have been to multiple sites for extended periods of time. Do you think this is claimable?
Yes sounds like a claim for difference between the rates. Have a look here www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-income-tax-relief-for-your-employment-expenses-p87
Hi Dan, i have just started as a same day courier, i get the work from a courier exchange app so at times i have to move in to different areas to find the work.Can i claim the mileage i travel to these different areas to find the work, otherwise it is going to workout very expensive for me. Thanks for the excellent videos very informative Jeff
Sounds like what you are doing is 'itinerant' and not regular/predictable, so likely you can claim. We can't say 100% without asking more questions and can't provide the direct advise here on your situation sadly.
Glad you enjoy the vids!
Just discovered your channel, really helpful Thank you! Just a quick question (If I may!?) I am self employed (make motorcycle gloves) and wish to buy a relatively inexpensive motorcycle for display & photography... Can I reclaim the VAT as VAT registered? Thank you! :-)
It maybe possible but you would likely need to restrict some of the claim for any non-business use.
www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/vat-input-tax/vit51500
Thanks for this very useful. Im looking at potentially buying an EV second hand. Majority of my work is online, but i do use my car to nip out posting, collecting inventory etc. I would only say around 10% business use. Would this still be something worth claiming back?
You'd weigh up the math of whether its better to do mileage or 10% of actual costs + 'captial allowances' on the cost of the car, and go from there. There isn't a one size fits answer sadly!
Hi Dan
I came a cross your Chanel a few weeks back am subscribed and loving all the content you have put in
Thank you very much
I have a question
My partner and I are self employed team
We are involved home renovations
We have been thinking of setting up a sole trade account to make life easy for day to day run of business with paying for materials / labour
For example
If we both set up a sole trade account with certain bank in both our names we can both use it to receive the money in from the customers and pay out our wages/materials and all other expenses
The question is do we have to pay tax at the full amount that is received at the jount sole trader account or we are both liable to pay tax individually for the amount each received at their personal account from the joint soltrader account
Sorry for the long long question
Hi there sorry I missed this one.
It’s a little hard to answer in a comment, but it sounds like you operating more like a traditional partnership - have you considered this?
@@HeelanAssociates thank you Dan
Hi Dan, you have mentioned that a van can be claimed as a capital allowance in the first year. What will happen in the second year of using the van? Do we just use simplified expenses going forward? Thank you.
So the capital allowances are in respect on the cost of the van itself. So depending on what relief you got in year one, depends on what you'd have to use in year 2.
It's likely on a van you may have claimed 'annual investment allowance' which is a 100% in year 1 (effectively), so you'd have no allowance for the *cost* in year 2 onwards.
But you would still be able to look at claiming the running costs moving forward, or a proportion of them if its not 100% business use.
@@HeelanAssociates Hello Dan, this is very helpful thank you. Just sitting another exam soon and this part was not very clear to me. If AIA is being used in year one can the sore trader then also claim the running costs in year one? The AAT book is not mentioning this anywhere for some reason.
Hi Dan, I'm a Driving Instructor - please can you confirm whether i use all 'actuals' - including for my car (eg, fuel, servicing etc) - as well as Capital Allowance WDA for my car? I can't find anything clear anywhere. Hope you can help, thank you
Hi Tina,
You have the same options, so can use mileage rates OR actuals + capital allowances. WDA rate will depend on Co2 emissions.
Do some quick maths and see what works best for you.
When claiming for mileage as well as keeping a log of miles done, would HMRC ask for more evidence. I’ve done around 12,000 miles in my car and around 3000 miles using the wife’s car, can I put both values in as it was for business purposes
Yes the actual car doesn’t matter in the case of mileage. Ideally you’d kept a record of why/where/when the journeys took place.
hi Dan, I've just starting using accountant software, I'm adding in my mileage ready for my tax, however, I recently purchased a van in this tax year and wondered if I can claim this in my tax return or is this not available to me because I use the 0.45p per mile? I use it for probably 70% work and I paid VAT for it too.
Everyone gives me a different answer and it's confusing.
Tia
Hi Tia,
There are really two options, which you sound like you are using 1.
1. The mileage claim option
2. The full costs, adjusted for non-business use
So it's one or other, so no mileage + cost of car. More here: www.heelanassociates.co.uk/self-employed-motor-expenses-basics/
Hi I am wondering if I use the mileage rule this time do I have to do that every year from now on? Thanks
Yes unless you change vehicle.
Hi Dan,
I was hoping you could help. I am trying to figure out if I am able to class any of the costs of maintenance and insuring my vehicle as deductible. It is my personal vehicle (a motorcycle) but it is used almost exclusively for work purposes easily 80%+ for work. I have seen some articles saying I can but only if I have business insurance and it is all rather confusing.
If you don’t use the mileage option yes generally you would include total costs of running and disallow the non business use.
www.heelanassociates.co.uk/self-employed-motor-expenses-basics/
@@HeelanAssociates thank you very much for the help!
What if the vehicle was bought (a van) years before going self employed and i chose the actual method. I guess the vehicle value is set at the market value at the time of going self employed ? Can i claim the value back over a number of years as opposed to year 1 ?
Roughly yes. Expanded here HOW MUCH TAX CAN YOU CLAIM BACK ON A VAN? SELF-EMPLOYED SPECIAL
th-cam.com/video/DlfpBCtbO10/w-d-xo.html
I'm a multidrop parcel courier, my depo is only 2 miles from my home so i dont calculate these miles of my days work. So once i load my van i head off to my 1st drop which is around 13 miles away after that point mist drops are around that perticular town. Can i calculate the miles i do once i have collected my parcels or can i only calculate it from the point i get to the town i deliver to?
Hi Danny,
We can't give specific 1-2-1 advice here, but more commentary here: www.heelanassociates.co.uk/ha-137-travel-costs-for-the-self-employed/
You are likely correct in that home > depot would be disallowable (as depot could be classed as your 'base of operations'). Your trade might be considered 'itinerant' and therefore the other miles could be fine, but much depends on the facts.
I don’t suppose anyone has made a calculator to work out what is better.
Self employed sole trader vat registered £23k income used 100% electric car. 40k miles a year just for business. £900 insurance and approx £1000 maintenance. Will purchase the car through HP over 4 years but expect to keep only a year or two due to the mileage.
Any advise would be appreciated.
There isn’t a calculator no, mainly because sometimes there are more non ‘black and white’ factors in play.
In this circumstance the mileage deduction could be around £12k so you’d weight that against the actual costs including the car itself.
Brought a van for work was self employed for about 3 months as got offered a decent paid job on the books how much of the van can I claim back as it was my first vehicle
That’s actually difficult to answer here as there are lots of ‘it depends on’, but if it was a short period you might find it better to use the mileage rate for the business mileage you did instead of worrying about costs.
Very sorry disturb you. I have doubt can I add mileage and MOT and service in my self employed
If you use mileage you use this in place of actual costs. If you use the actual costs method mot can be included.
@@HeelanAssociates so if understand I can't use both mileage and service like MOT and repair all this
Quick question, my fiance is about to become self employed but doesn't drive. I drive her to the majority of places away from her base of operations (home) therefore can she claim mileage on my car at 45p? if not what can she claim, fuel?
Technically no she can't, because the tax law reads:
"..M is the number of miles of business journeys made by a person (other than as a passenger) using that vehicle in the period..."
There maybe a way of establishing that she contributes to fuel, but its a conversation that cant be done in a comment, too many questions and very specific to your circumstances.
Sorry that's not super straightforward!
Hello Dan, I am struggling to find information online about what percentage of the value of a van you can offset as a sole trader and under what category of expense it would come under - would it be a capital allowance or annual investment allowance?
Many thanks :)
I asked my accountant the same question
Hi Lydia,
Annual investment allowance is a Capital allowance.
You'd use this usually if you are not using the mileage method. The capital allowances are usually how you deal with the purchase of the vehicle.
Whether you can claim AIA or not is dependant on the type of vehicle. With a Van often AIA is available, but you have to be careful as even large companies have got the definition of 'van' wrong in tax law. AIA is usually a 100% allowance in year of purchase.
You do however have to restrict your claim for any personal/non business use, and often the best provable way is to work out your business mileage against your total mileage to arrive at a % figure.
Hope that helps, not easy to explain in a comment!
Hope they gave you a solid answer :-)
Hi Dan iam a self employed gardener . If for example I leave home go too 2 separate homes to do there gardens and then iam tired and hungry so go home for lunch and a 3 hour break
An then I go back out for a second run and do another 2 jobs and then back home again ... can I claim the miles as a total for the day for the 2 separate runs or is going home for 3 hours for lunch and a break not seen as part of the miles
Many thanks
Possibly. In theory this type of job is 'itinerant' and therefore all that travel should be ok, but HMRC may challenge the home > customer homes travel if they feel its 'regular and predictable'. HMRC/the tax courts view has been less than regular and predictable for a few years :- ) :- )
@@HeelanAssociates most of them are predictable there maintenance jobs some weekly . Most fornightly to go maintain the gardens
Surely all these trips are for tax miles ??
Great video but am still confused.
Anyone help pls.
I am a car delivery driver....
1. Go to dealer garage to pick up car.
2. Go to customer to pick up car
3. Return car to depot from customer
4. Drive home
5. Get someone to pick me up in my car and then drive home
6. Get train home or to client. (Train ticket or add mileage)
Which of the above can I actually claim for as mileage.
Hope this makes sense
It’s hard to answer in a comment here, this may help www.heelanassociates.co.uk/ha-137-travel-costs-for-the-self-employed/
But ‘commuting’ to / from depot would likely not be claimable.
@@HeelanAssociates thank u
Is the business mile total from home to jobsite and then back to home or just from home to work . ?
Bit of long one to explain in a comment, this may help: www.heelanassociates.co.uk/ha-137-travel-costs-for-the-self-employed/
So being a self employed sub contractor. I can't really claim any fuel at all just not worth putting anything through. My tax has wiped me out recent years. I might aswell get a normal job
It depends on the style of your work. Can be possible if are bouncing around sites with your own vehicle.
Have a read here: www.heelanassociates.co.uk/ha-137-travel-costs-for-the-self-employed/
As a side note, your tax is still less than an employed person (National Insurance is less, and you can offset more costs). Obviously you can debate whether its worth it over some security, holiday and pension pay 😀
@@HeelanAssociates I struggle to make my self face doing paper work and tax returns
@@RossiB172 its likely worth investigating if an accountant or book-keeper could help
I am the majn driver on mu car but my husband uses my car for travel to give quotes and to work at different properties. Can he still claim miles on my car? He has paid for the car and the fuel.
So does he own it? If so yes mileage claim for business use could be possible.
No, they are under my name. But they belong to us both.
Hi Dan, I’m self employed and due to change my lease vehicle very soon, I’m looking at leasing a Tesla, with a £5500 advanced payment then £600 a month over 3 years, 100% business use what could I claim back, thanks
Hi Greg bit of an open question but in general (and I’m talking without knowing your situation so this is not advice):
Lease payments are likely deductible as a cost, but you should restrict the cost or disallow some of the cost for any personal use (and if you are saying 100% I’d keep a good mileage log to prove).
Re the initial payment read the invoice, could be it is just advanced rent.
how do i do my self assesment as a person working for a company but classed as self employed ( it asks on self assesment for my company name but i dont own a company )
i am a labourer at a utilitys firm. thanks
If you are truly self employed, you'd fill out the self employment pages, so there is no need for a company name.
If it asks for a business name and it's just you, many owners will just use their name.
as a self employed person i see lots of information including this one, of to and from work you cannot claim. But i am still unsure if i can claim a percentage for car expenses excluding fuel. As in road tax, repair costs, insurance etc
Have a read here, you can do 2 options: www.heelanassociates.co.uk/self-employed-motor-expenses-basics/
@@HeelanAssociates i ended up putting my self assesment in now, but on the gov tax site it says you either claim mileage flat rate or expenses, pretty much as your site says. However my question was really to confirm that even though i am self employed i work from one place every day, and reading everything is says thatis not allowed as an expense as its classes as a commute to work. Even read somewhere where a doctor tried to claim as he visited 3 hospitals and that was disallowed as it was classed as a place of work. Simply put i was going to claim the 45p a mile seems i can't. But April soon be here for this years tax so i am all ears.
What if you lease a car and make monthly payments, what are you allowed to claim?
good question, my car is about to die, I do about 100miles a day on surveys all over the place. might be worth leasing a car...
As a self employed person, if you are doing the 'actual costs' method its the same principles - you'd claim the business proportion of the lease payment. Or you'd ignore it all and do mileage rates.
See our answer below, but lease vs buy is a wider issue (tax you will get relief in some form either way), have a listen to this podcast we did on the subject heelanhub.libsyn.com/business-vehicles-lease-or-buy
What if my milage works out more than my tax I've paid that year?
The mileage will come off your profits, rather than the tax, so may not matter. The mileage is tax deductible under right circumstances
WHAT DOES TAX DEDUCTIBLE ACTUALLY MEAN?
th-cam.com/video/nXsS_k4MVlw/w-d-xo.html
Hi Dan, I am a self employed musician who gets paid roughly 21p per mile for some gigs where I drive quite far for them. I have been deducting the travel costs I receive from 45p per mile on these journeys, but I've been told this isn't allowed. Can you explain what would be best to do here, and if what I'm doing is allowed? Thanks
While we cant give 1-2-1 advice here due to professional regs, generically:
As a self employed person using the simplified expense rates, such as the 45p a mile for first 10,000, its not relevant what you get reimbursed / are able to recharge. You still claim the full rate as your expenses, you just also show the income received in respect of the mileage.
@@HeelanAssociates This is exactly the conclusion I had come to, so thanks for clarifying, super helpful!
So I’m a self employed courier I’ve only done it for 6 months I’ve earned 12k but hav around 4000 in expenses can you claim this back as cash into my bank?
Its unlikely. Have a watch of this one th-cam.com/video/nXsS_k4MVlw/w-d-xo.html
I think it's unfair to only allow 24p per mile for scooter delivery, insurance is £1000 and uninsured bycycle is 20p per mile. No information about capital alowence for electric scooters zero emmision. Hmrc just say car
Yes the rates these days aren’t great in comparison to the costs 😭
How much can i write off working for uber
That’s hard to answer in a comment, this may help www.heelanassociates.co.uk/setting-up-self-employed-or-sole-trader/
Suiii
Glad you enjoyed ;)