Hello
A personal trainer, self-employed, bought a bike in order to commute to his private clients. Even though his clients are all in different places, we believe that this is still classified as commute to/ from work, so he won't be able to claim the £0.20/mile.
However will he be able to deduct it from his expenses as the bike was only over £100 and for work purpose, or claim it as an asset and as capital allowances? and as it's a bike, does it go to "cars" category and would that be as 100% FYA? I appreciate responses. thank you
Replies (19)
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If he is unable to claim the 20p per mile why should he be able to claim capital allowances?
If it is bought as a business asset then it can be capitalised in the accounts. You can only claim Capital Allowances and running costs for the business proportion of its use - any private use (commuting etc) should be added back before calculating taxable profit.
The bike was bought "wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the trade"......
I thought you said earlier that he used it for home to work mileage.
I suppose a proportion is allowable though, as you say the cost was £100, it's not something I can get excited about.
That's the first point you need clarity on. Further consideration really follows on from there.Even though his clients are all in different places, we believe that this is still classified as commute to/ from work, so he won't be able to claim the £0.20/mile.
Agree. There may well be a good case for these journeys being allowable if the taxpayer is truly peripatetic. Have a look at Doctor Samadian's case - see if his circumstances fit in with your client's.
Step One is certainly to establish whether the journeys are ordinary commuting. If they are, no need to go any further. Your claim is dead in the water.
Whether it's commuting or not will likely depend upon the "predictability" of his journeys. If he goes to the same clients on the same day each week it's probably commuting. Only you can find out if that's the case.
I'd certainly be trying to make a case for full deductibility.
Also Horton is relvant - https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/business-income-manual/bim37620
It's very common for health professionals to have a combination of journeys to a (same) clinic, and then a few home visits.
I'm not aware of HMRC discouraging claims for home visits.
My instinct is then:
Private: Home to clinic
Private: Not work at all
Business: Home to private patients
Either
> [don't] claim the 20p on business miles, [edit - see later post - 20p not claimable]
> Capital Allowances reduced by private %
I cannot agree that your client is not eligible to claim mileage allowance if if it is deemed your home is your business address then you should be able to claim. There was a ESC under a BIM which was archived see Accounting Web article. But the simplest answer would be to write to your local tax office for clarification on both the mileage and Capital Allowances. As others have mentioned capital allowances should be claimable with an appropriate private usage adjustment of applicable.
I cannot agree that your client is not eligible to claim mileage allowance if if it is deemed your home is your business address then you should be able to claim.
What we don't know is whether the visits are to the same patient every week or zillions of different patients. The likelihood is that the latter is nearer the case; if so, I wouldn't have any qualms about treating the taxpayer's home as his base.
Nor do we know the length of the journeys which makes it impossible to say whether the Capital Allowances are better than 20p a mile (though that is, in itself, a judgement call).
In fact, when you look at the information provided, it's little more than "I know a bloke who goes to work on a bike".
You can't claim the 20p per mile for a soletrader. The rates that RALP007 has linked to are for employees. AIA can be claimed, but must be restricted to the extent that there is private use (including anything that constitutes commuting).
As Lion suggests it is likely that the trade is peripatetic, such that there will not be any commuting.
You can't claim the 20p per mile for a soletrader.>
You're right. Cars and motor bikes are in but push irons are out.
Presumably the guy generally doesn't do a lot of mileage; he's not likely to be doing the Tour de Yorkshire every day, is he ?
Not that I've got a lot of clients who go to work on a bike, though I do have a mate who does these charity bike rides. Last year, about 20 of them did a ride from Yorkshire to Wembley down these green lanes and leafy cycle roots. They got as far as Buckinghamshire when they were surrounded by armed police.
They'd only drifted into the grounds of Chequers !!