Fuel expenses sole trader

[Anthony1985]

Hi Guys,

I've never had to claim for fuel expenses as I use to live next to a RM depot. I have since moved house and live around 4 miles away.

I'm a sole trader using my personal car to do the RM drop. How do I go about claiming the fuel allowance. I understand I can claim 45p for the first 10k miles. The fuel that I fill up with comes out my personal bank account as the car is used for personal as well. All so do I have to keep a record of any trips that I do that are NOT business related?

Regards

ANTHONY

 

[Scalloway]

You keep a record of the business miles. What I used to do when I was self employed was pay myself from the business account at the end of the year. You can just do the calculation and enter it on your self assessment if that suits you better.

 

[Anthony1985]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. Seems pretty straight forward. Cheers

 

[Anthony1985]

Sorry one more question. Do I need to keep a recording of my car total mileage or is it really just every time I pop to the post office I record 4 miles on to a spread sheet

 

[Scalloway]

I would just record business journeys.

 

[Chart Accountancy]

There are two ways of claiming. One option is to claim 45p per mile and second is to claim a % of the total running costs including the fuel. For the second you have to calculate the % business miles of the total miles travelled and apply the % to the total motor expenses to arrive to amount of expense attributable to the sole trader business.

 

[Gecko001]

Sorry one more question. Do I need to keep a recording of my car total mileage or is it really just every time I pop to the post office I record 4 miles on to a spread sheet

No. You just need to keep a record of business miles. I find the best way is to keep a notebook or small diary and note down date, miles travelled and destination each time you make a business journey. Add the miles up at the end of the year and multiple by 45p. That is your car expenses which you subtract from your income when you are working out profit at the end of the financial year for submitting to HMRC. Keep the notebook so that if HMRC want to check that your mileage is accurate, they will have something they can refer to. No need for recording total mileage done in car or cost of petrol used or insurance. The 45p mile is supposed to cover you for all costs in running your car.

 

[Gecko001]

Just to be clear here, if the OP did make accusations outside of an Employment Tribunal or court and it did turn out that the staff member was innocent, could the OP be successfully sued for slander/libel?