Can i still claim my travel/petrol even when not S. employed

[buggy]

Hi there
I wonder if you can answer a query for me.
I used to be a self employed electrician approx 10 years ago but i then went and worked direct for a company(employed).
The funny thing was that the inland revenue still kept sending me tax return forms to fill out for appprox for the next 5 years.
At the time of being Self employed my accountant at the time said to me that even though i was going to work for an electrical company on an employed basis i may still be entitled to claim on my expenses.
This being that i don't get any travel allowance for train fares/petrol etc so it all comes out of my pocket.
On remembering what my accountant said at the time i happily just filled out my tax return online whilst solely claiming for travel expenses.
This mean't that for the next 5 years or so i recieved a tax rebate from them for my loss of travel etc.
Then after say my fifth year of recieving a tax rebate i got a letter from them saying that they would no longer need to send me a tax return form anymore and that is the last i heard from them.
I was just wondering why they stopped sending me a tax return form and am my in any way still entitled to claim back any of my travel expenses and if so how far back can i go to claim for what i haven't in the past.
Many thanks in advance for any advice given.
Cheers

[Williams lester]

By travel, do you mean commuting to and from work or do you mean visiting customers etc?

[KidsBeeHappy]

The short answer is you are not allowed to claim from home to work, where work is your normal place of work. And if your employer pays this, then its taxed as a Benefit.

THe longer answer is It depends. It's a little complicated. Most large companies that have employees that work out of office usually have a dispensation set up with the IR where there are certain boundaries about what can and can't be claimed for.

I think maybe the advice you've been given sounds a little optimisic.

[buggy]

Yeh i am looking to see if i can claim from home to place of work.
My place of work can vary alot as i can be on different sites all the time.
Reason being is that i get no form of travel allowance from the company i work from at all so all travel expenses are at my cost.
:|
Can someone please explain why the Inland Revenue continued giving me tax return forms even though i was now employed and hy i kept getting tax rebates every time i claimed my travel expenses?

[KidsBeeHappy]

Unfortunately, just because they're at your expense, doesn't necessarily mean that you can claim them against tax..........

[buggy]

Does this mean no then.
Can someone please explain why the Inland Revenue continued giving me tax return forms even though i was now employed and hy i kept getting tax rebates every time i claimed my travel expenses?
:|

[KidsBeeHappy]

Just because they send you a form, doesn't mean that you can make a reclaim. It's usual to get one for the next couple of years after you de-register from selfemployment. For example you might have capital gains etc.

[buggy]

Its just that a friend of mine at work has just received another tax return recently and he said that his accountant maybe able to claim for his travel expenses!
:|

[yorkshirejames]

Yeh i am looking to see if i can claim from home to place of work.
My place of work can vary alot as i can be on different sites all the time.
Reason being is that i get no form of travel allowance from the company i work from at all so all travel expenses are at my cost.
:|
Can someone please explain why the Inland Revenue continued giving me tax return forms even though i was now employed and hy i kept getting tax rebates every time i claimed my travel expenses?

You need the right form of help. If you were my client, I would be making a case that your "normal place of work" is either your home, or your companies main office.

Then when you travel from home to site A or from site A to site B or site B to main office, we would look to claim this as a travel expense. home to main office or vv couldn't be claimed (unless of course you need to go via site C to check on a job or to go pick some materials up).

[buggy]

You need the right form of help. If you were my client, I would be making a case that your "normal place of work" is either your home, or your companies main office.

Then when you travel from home to site A or from site A to site B or site B to main office, we would look to claim this as a travel expense. home to main office or vv couldn't be claimed (unless of course you need to go via site C to check on a job or to go pick some materials up).

Problemis that i am site based 95% of the time so home or office would not be my normal place of work.
Can i still claim?
Thanks for any advice given.
:)