Mileage claim

Mileage claim

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I have an interesting question(well I think!!), which I believe the answer was no to, but after reading booklet 490 not sure about it.

(I have changed the locations but the same question is relevant)

Lets say I am an accountant and used to lived in Brighton and ran my business from home in Brighton. Most clients are in this area, meetings take place in this area at home or at clients premises etc.

Then I move to Scotland and run the business from a new home in Scotland. Scotland is were all work is undertaken, files are kept, phone is, computer is etc. No work is undertaken at Brighton other than client meetings at a rented meeting room or at the client premises.

For client meetings, there is following situations (time at Brighton is a maximum of 1 day each week but probably more like 1 day per 2 weeks on average, and no regular routine ,ie it happens as and when meetings are required, sometimes no meetings for 3 weeks, other times of the year one day per week for 3 consecutive weeks.):-

1. I travel from Scotland to Brighton to a rented meeting room and meet some clients in the meeting room.

2, I travel from Scotland direct to clients premises(which maybe near Brighton or could be in hove or somewhere else in Kent for instance)

3. I travel from Scotland to Brightons rented meeting room and maybe have no meetings there and then travel to clients premises for meetings

4. I travel from one clients premises to another for meetings

I am interested in thoughts whether any of the above travel/mileage is or not is tax allowable.

The other fact is that this is an employee of his own Limited company (ie. NOT self employed) and could last for years.

Many thanks

Darren 

Replies (5)

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By mrme89
17th Mar 2015 15:10

What does it matter where your home is / was?

Wherever the home is or was, it appears to be a permanent place of work and travel to / from client meetings was and is allowable. 

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By Carolynne
17th Mar 2015 18:05

I think

I wonder if the OP is having worries about travelling from a home office, over the ruling about the Doctor who travelled to his clinics regularly from his practise at home.  The mileage was disallowed, and could only start after reaching his first place?

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James Reeves
By James Reeves
17th Mar 2015 19:01

I think you mean Samadian

Carolynne I think you are thinking of Dr Samadian but I'm not sure I see that it is relevant here.

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By darrenwilliams
18th Mar 2015 09:23

Mrme89, thanks for your reply,  I only mentioned it is the home, as this is where the business is based, to give all the facts.

 

There a few cases of self employed people not being able to claim for mileage set out in points 1, 2 and 3 above.

The Samadian case is a self employed person, which is similar to the case with the salesman that travels from home to his 'working patch area' which was held to be not allowable. Which in my eyes makes sense.

 

However my situation is that I am an employee of my owned Limited company, so different rules are applicable for Travel/Mileage allowances/Subsistence rules.

 

I suppose I just do not really believe you can claim travel in points 1, 2 and 3 above and have never claimed it, as it just does not feel right(!) but when reading leaflet 490 in detail (I was researching for a different question from another client, which I answered), it is really implying you can claim mileage in all points 1,2,3 and 4 which I still find hard to believe, hence my question, just in case I am missing something or whether the meeting room muddies the water etc.

 

Thanks for your replies and interested to hear if people think yes or no.

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By Corinius
05th Nov 2015 16:29

Samadian vs 490

Having just (scan) read the UTT judgement in Samadian I came across this discussion.

Applying 490 does seem to say that the travel in the original post would be OK, for an employee.

However, as Darren Williams suggests, the self-employed situation would be different, and the meeting room is crucial post-Samadian.  As I understand it, travelling from a home base to a client or several clients, is fine as an "itinerant worker."  What Samadian seems to have done is to set a very low bar for somewhere to become a "place of business."  If that rented meeting room is regular enough to become a "place of business" you're in danger, and your travel home becomes tainted by dual purpose. An old style "market day office," even if it's in someone else's premises, looks problematic of you're self-employed.

 

 

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