self employed tax return and claiming motoring expenses.

[Granta]

Evening all,

after a bit of guidance and advise please! i have been self employed for the last year and will do my own self assessment at the end of the year, i have kept all of my receipts that i have bought items for business use etc. my question is with claiming tax back on car expenses,

i use the car for personal use at the weekends and use it for business use during the week. i have kept my fuel receipts and will be making a log for the mileage. i want to know what i can claim back in terms of car tax, maintenance and insurance and the car is on finance can i claim some of that back? been googling it tonight and it looks like it has to be a proportion to how much i use it privately.

is anybody able to shed to light on this?

 

[DieselJake]

Ah nice one for keeping all the receipts that was going to be my first thing to say, my dad does this and I'm not 100% knowledgeable on the subject but from what I gather on top of claiming the fuel he also gets money off the purchase price of the car he uses so I presume as yours is on finance you'll also receive money towards this, had a quick look on the governments take on this and from what I understand you may be able to claim it as "capital allowances"? Says you should also get the money off repairs and insurance.

Theirs a fair few other bits and bobs but here's where I picked up my (very limited) info https://www.gov.uk/expenses-if-youre-self-employed/travel

Could also be a good idea to get a decent (crooked... are we allowed to advise this? haha) accountant to help with tax needs, that's what my dad does anyway basically brings down a ton of receipts and things for the year then this guy does all the hard work and it comes out cheaper than my dad could have made it if he did it on his own (the wonders of bent accountants haha).

 

[Granta]

That's it. It will be called capital allowances and I will get an accountant to work out the figures but it's not clear how much of the tax/insurance and finance I can claim for. I think if it was a van or car purely for work I could do 100% of it but cause I use the car for personal use too that's where I'm unclear as to how much I can expense.
Thanks for the reply.

 

[WOLF]

Your accountant will be clued up on what he can claim for you,if you do it yourself online then it will work it out for you based on the figures you enter

 

[JudderMan]

I take 45p per business mile. This, as instructed by my accountant, takes into consideration tax, insurance etc...unless you drive a supercharged v8 then you're usually better off per mile when using your own car. My car costs about 17p per mile in fuel. Toll roads, parking tickets (not fines) etc can all be put through as long as it was during business use/site visits/meeting clients etc.

 

[RedTurtle]

You best bet is to talk to an accountant directly, they will know what you can and can't claim. I like @JudderMan claim 45ppm that are considered business miles, whilst also claiming parking, toll roads etc. that 45ppm only counts for the first 10000 miles, then it drops down to 25ppm.

 

[joinerman]

My accountant does all mine, £200 a year, can't complain about that

 

[Granta]

Thanks for the replies chaps that 45p/m sounds good. Will find an accountant although I only started self employment in November 2013 so my first self assess will only be for 6 months (November to April)

 

[JudderMan]

Mines 550 a year plus about 300 foe additional charges like Corp returns, vat returns etc.

What is it you do? There are so many things that accountants cam help with. I find that the ones that actually run their own business are more switched on compared to one that works for a large company.

I only do around 3000 miles a year for business forgot about the 10k down to 25p thing, good shout.

 

[joinerman]

Scary at first isn't it ? Ive been self employed since 1972

 

[Granta]

ya once i have done one I'm sure i will be ok, my wife is self employed too so she will help me too. I'm a motor mechanic mainly work for a mercedes benz specialist but also do some work for a car sales garage and a few retail jobs