Advise on new van against tax ?

[Pjj]

When I first started, I booked an appointment with our local DWP office in Middlesbrough. The lady I had the appointment with explained what I could claim for as a legitimate business expense and what was not a legitimate business expense.

She also explained that a certain amount of vehicle expenses would be private and most would be business. It was up to each person to decide what the percentage difference would be according to their business. She did say that if we were working and decided to stop and go to the chippy for takeaways, that would be private use of the van.

We claim 100% expenses for the vans as they are used for business only , we do get lunch every day using the van but it’s always going between jobs and we would be on that same road anyway. I don’t think that would stand up in any court I had this discussion with my accountant years ago he said it’s reasonable to use a vehicle for any purpose that helps your business you can’t work without food so getting lunch is fine , also going to buy or collect anything to do with the business is acceptable ,if however you went out for a meal in the evening solely non work related things then yes that’s social/ domestic use , but I don’t want to be going out socially to the pub with friend in a sign written van anyway

 

[Iron Giant]

Unless of course if you tried selling your services to the chip shop , then it might be marketing activity.

I could tell them I am driving down Yorkshire to look at the viability of building a round in Yorkshire Dales as I'm considering relocating

 

[Crystalalan]

I did once nip to the local Chinese in the van as I couldn't be bothered unlocking gates to get car out. While I was in there they asked for a quote to clean their windows , which I now do. Unfortunately their bill doesn't cover my bill but as they say 'every little helps'.

aww you rebel

 

[dazmond]

Technically yes, although you can, I believe use the per mile rate. i.e. reduce the expenses by a fixed rate per mile that hmrc set. You can also use the standard rate for using a room at home when you do your accounts, admin etc. I think it's about £10 a month. A good accountant can save you more than their fees by knowing the rules.

I keep it simple and put all expenses in regards to the van through every tax year. Cash basis accounting is really easy esp if your a sole trader working on your own in the 20% tax bracket(using cleaner planner)so HMRC only get my total turnover and whole,yearly expenses.

The only way they would know every single expense would be if I got an investigation.

 

[ched999uk]

aww you rebel

Not that much of a rebel, I checked my policy and I am covered SD&P

 

[ched999uk]

I keep it simple and put all expenses in regards to the van through every tax year. Cash basis accounting is really easy esp if your a sole trader working on your own in the 20% tax bracket(using cleaner planner)so HMRC only get my total turnover and whole,yearly expenses.

The only way they would know every single expense would be if I got an investigation.

The info HMRC gets is governed by their forms, so they don't actually get much info even though the forms have a silly number of boxes . It can be very simple but sometimes there is stuff you can claim for to reduce your tax bill. Judging by what you have said I doubt an accountant could actually save you any where near what they would charge.

 

[Part Timer]

Not that much of a rebel, I checked my policy and I am covered SD&P

But your claiming mileage allowance so fall into a different bracket. 2 of our vans are fully business only, my Peugeot Partner is mileage as well so this is what I use for SD&P