Business mileage

Gents

How do you go about recording your business mileage.  How detailed do you have to be , is it each journey, or a daily or weekly total.

Many thanks 

Gasket said:

Gents

How do you go about recording your business mileage.  How detailed do you have to be , is it each journey, or a daily or weekly total.

Many thanks 

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From my understanding of it and the way I have done it, I have recorded the miles from the moment I set off to the first job, the miles in between each job and the miles home.  The moment you divert to a supermarket or somewhere else to grab some food, that is not business mileage.  If you go to a supplier to pick something up then that is business mileage.

There is a grey area for me though.  Last year I was doing house cleaning (or in the process of leaving anyway) and this was self employed contracted work.  Now the rules state that if you're going to a regular place to carry out your work then this is classed as commuting.  So if I'm at Mrs Jones' house every Tuesday at 10:00 for 2 hours it would be classed as commuting to work and would be not allowed to claim fuel allowance.  But it does state 'regular', so it's a grey area as what would you class as regular?  3 months, 6 months, 12 months?  At a moments notice I could be told I'd not be not needed that day, so that's not regular is it?  Often the jobs would change every 3 months, either changing hours, days or just dropping the service all together.

So based on what I feel is right I've put through all the mileage and not classed any of it as commuting.  The same for the window cleaning, the moment I leave the house I'm carrying on my work from home.  Technically it could be argued that until you get to the first job it's your commute, but what if your going 50 or 60 miles to get to the job and it's a once a month big job, is that a commute as well?  

All I know is that the moment I load up that van with it full of water it's using up a lot more fuel, so I'm putting everything down as business use, if I had the option I'd cycle to my first job and park up the bike and then jump into the van to carry out my work, but this is not an option is it, so therefore if I cannot do that then for me the moment I leave the house it's work not commute.  Right or wrong that's how I see it.

Gasket said:

Gents

How do you go about recording your business mileage.  How detailed do you have to be , is it each journey, or a daily or weekly total.

Many thanks 

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You have to record every single mile you do. Your better off using a tracker like the one built into quick books a it does everything for you. 

Strictly speaking you are supposed to log every individual journey, start point, destination and miles covered. This is only relevant if you get inspected and if you're claiming for 800 miles a month and earning £200 a week there is a good chance you will. They will give you a small leeway, in other words if route planner says it's 5.6 miles and you log 6 they won't do anything, this in theory should cover the few personal miles you do. As @Cleanco said there are tracking systems you can use that HMRC will accept as proof.

Chris34 said:

From my understanding of it and the way I have done it, I have recorded the miles from the moment I set off to the first job, the miles in between each job and the miles home.  The moment you divert to a supermarket or somewhere else to grab some food, that is not business mileage.  If you go to a supplier to pick something up then that is business mileage.

There is a grey area for me though.  Last year I was doing house cleaning (or in the process of leaving anyway) and this was self employed contracted work.  Now the rules state that if you're going to a regular place to carry out your work then this is classed as commuting.  So if I'm at Mrs Jones' house every Tuesday at 10:00 for 2 hours it would be classed as commuting to work and would be not allowed to claim fuel allowance.  But it does state 'regular', so it's a grey area as what would you class as regular?  3 months, 6 months, 12 months?  At a moments notice I could be told I'd not be not needed that day, so that's not regular is it?  Often the jobs would change every 3 months, either changing hours, days or just dropping the service all together.

So based on what I feel is right I've put through all the mileage and not classed any of it as commuting.  The same for the window cleaning, the moment I leave the house I'm carrying on my work from home.  Technically it could be argued that until you get to the first job it's your commute, but what if your going 50 or 60 miles to get to the job and it's a once a month big job, is that a commute as well?  

All I know is that the moment I load up that van with it full of water it's using up a lot more fuel, so I'm putting everything down as business use, if I had the option I'd cycle to my first job and park up the bike and then jump into the van to carry out my work, but this is not an option is it, so therefore if I cannot do that then for me the moment I leave the house it's work not commute.  Right or wrong that's how I see it.

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I do my mileage that way aswell as in mileage to first job etc, but I'm using the family car, if you have a van for example that is sign written would all mileage not be considered work related, you'd be a mobile advertisement for yourself after all 

select window cleaning said:

I do my mileage that way aswell as in mileage to first job etc, but I'm using the family car, if you have a van for example that is sign written would all mileage not be considered work related, you'd be a mobile advertisement for yourself after all 

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I think that would depend on the purpose of the trip.  If you were specifically driving around or to park in a place for the van to be seen then you could class that as business mileage.  If you were driving to the supermarket then that would be classed as you needing to go for personal use so wouldn't be classed as business mileage, even though it would be beneficial for the business.  

Gasket said:

Gents

How do you go about recording your business mileage.  How detailed do you have to be , is it each journey, or a daily or weekly total.

Many thanks 

Click to expand...

Depending what vehicle you use there is no need to my vans are for work use only so all mialage and fuel goes against expenses 

Pjj said:

Depending what vehicle you use there is no need to my vans are for work use only so all mialage and fuel goes against expenses 

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Can you claim mileage and fuel? I was under the impression it was one or the other?

maxbruffell said:

Can you claim mileage and fuel? I was under the impression it was one or the other?

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Yes sorry i should have said all fuel expenses and all running costs for the vans are expenses as they are used for buisness only no private use at all . 

Pjj said:

Depending what vehicle you use there is no need to my vans are for work use only so all mialage and fuel goes against expenses 

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But you will depreciate your Vans and claim insurance etc

Part Timer said:

But you will depreciate your Vans and claim insurance etc

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Any expenses with them fuel ,servicing ,tyres , insurance, repairs , anything I spend on them is put down , I just give the accountant all the receipts and let him sort it all out ???

Pjj said:

Any expenses with them fuel ,servicing ,tyres , insurance, repairs , anything I spend on them is put down , I just give the accountant all the receipts and let him sort it all out ???

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That is the system I use now. I did go the mileage route in my other job but I was doing 30k+ miles a year

Part Timer said:

That is the system I use now. I did go the mileage route in my other job but I was doing 30k+ miles a year

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Ye if you do a hell of a lot of milage or use your vehicle for other uses then milage is have best way. If you don’t do a lot of milage then sometimes it can be more beneficial to claim expenses especially if you have your van on finance and do your accounting on a cash basis. 

Pjj said:

Depending what vehicle you use there is no need to my vans are for work use only so all mialage and fuel goes against expenses 

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Same. I declare 100% mileage for my van as it's a work van.

Suhrly said:

Same. I declare 100% mileage for my van as it's a work van.

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All depends how many miles you do though, I only do 3k a year so pointless, It's better for me to offset all the other motor expenses, fuel, service, maintenance and insurance, you can only do one miles or all other motor expenses including a van purchase. 

Iron Giant said:

All depends how many miles you do though, I only do 3k a year so pointless, It's better for me to offset all the other motor expenses, fuel, service, maintenance and insurance, you can only do one miles or all other motor expenses including a van purchase. 

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Might be best for me to do this method then, as I will only be doing similar mileage 

Gasket said:

Might be best for me to do this method then, as I will only be doing similar mileage 

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I guess it all depends on your vehicle expenses as well, mileage allowance per mile  is £0.45 X 3000 = £1,350 per annum my vehicle finance plus everything else is over the mileage allowance example I have used.