Car fuel card.

[steve7713]

I am looking for some advice, I don't seem to get a simple answer to this.

The company is looking at changing my wage structure, I claim for business millage I use in my own car about 15000 mile a year, I do not use it much from private about 4000miles. It looks like I will be getting a fuel card for business millage, I will be paying for my private fuel.

Would I have to pay tax on the fuel card?

 

[meanie]

All your fuel costs appear on a single consolidated VAT invoice. Breakdowns by card and cost centre enable you to reallocate cost and produce reports with ease. What is more, the invoice is approved by HMRC for tax records. So, there is no longer any need to keep or process individual till receipts, saving you valuable time and resources.

from a fuel card provider

 

[steve7713]

That read more for the company's point of view, but would it affect my take home?

 

[spanna]

I am not an accountant or tax expert so the usual caveats appy

However I do have a fuel card which I use for ALL of my petrol.

I do have to fill in a form every year claiming a mileage allowance (basically 40p per mile up to 10,000 miles and 25p per mile after that)

Providing that my work related mileage adds up to more that I have used in petrol then it is tax free, If the fuel benefit exceeds the work related mileage I would have to pay tax on the difference.

Providing you use yours entirely for work use you shouldn't be tax'd on it

Inland revenue do cock up though so you may have to phone them to explain things, if they try to charge you

I always keep a record of my work trips just in case (haven't needed it yet)

I think the claim form is a P87 _ not positive about that though

 

[steve7713]

I am waiting for conformation on how I pay for Private fuel, but I am sure that I would fill the car with the fuel card and keep a note of and private miles I used and work out what I have to return to the company, as I am not making anything on it I do not think I should have to pay for tax in this. I am hoping for some conformation before I end up with a bill.

At the moment I claim millage from them and fill in a P87 for a tax rebate.

 

[hatab]

Hi Steve7713

when you have a fuel card your company will provide you with a p11d form that they also send to the IR which says you have a fuel card and over the year you purchased £1102 of fuel. this will then be deducted from the value arrived at with the (10000*40p + 5000*25p)
You are already filling in p87 you will already be keeping records incase those nice people at IR ask you for proof of milage.

 

[MH]

Who do you work for?

Basically private mileage is the 1st and last journey you make for work every day. You can claim business if you go from one site to another.

So in essence, all you mileage you do for work will be classed as private in the view of the HMRC.

 

[nwfletcher]

If you move onto a fuel card, and have to pay the company for your private mileage, how are you going to get recompensed for the wear and tear on your car, as the higher rate you were getting compared to a company car driver would have given you the extra required for additional servicing etc.

 

[steve7713]

See if i get the right, My wages will change so that it includes me supplying a car, equivalent to getting a car allowance. I will get fuel card that pays for all my fuel and I fill in a form each month that totals my fuel used and will be deducted each month.

I phoned the tax man today, I will have to pay tax on the fuel card with my tax code, but I will fill in a P87 each year to claim this back.

 

[iliveinuk]

Sounds about right steve, I basically worked out on mine that if I was to put in more than around £60 a month for my own private use then I might as well just get taxed on fuel for everything, which is what I do, and yes, my tax code starts as a negative lol.

A few in work do what you do, have private and work milage and add the odd extra miles here and there so they benefit that way, I just coudnt be bothered with that.

 

[Taff]

I have a Fuel card which I had the option for business only or business and private miles, to warrant having business and private I would have to cover a lot of private miles just to brake even...

My mileage is added on a database where my business miles per day are added and subtracted from end of month odometer against odometer reading at the beginning of the month.

The remaining miles (private) are then deducted from my monthly salary at the rate of 7 pence per mile...

My tax code was significantly reduced recently because I have a company car..

Regards

Taff

 

[MH]

You have to be careful about business miles....

The taxman view the 1st journey and the last journey everyday is private. This is the case if you are a salesman, service engineer etc. The only time you can claim business miles is if you go between sites, or your contract says you are Home Based, but even then it can become gray. If you have been claiming business miles when you should not, you may get hit with a very large tax bill and your company with a large National Insurance bill.

 

[steve7713]

I will have to look out my contract, I work from home as a field engineer.

 

[MH]

In that case, ALL your mileage will be classed as private. Home based means you could do the majority of your job from home. Being a field engineer means you cant.
You would be better/safer taking the fuel card. Referencing post 1 the taxman would see that at 19000 private miles, and could come back and want money for the claimed "business" miles.

 

[MH]

From HMRC

"
SE32070 - Travel expenses: 1998/99 and later years - definitions - permanent workplace - regular attendance

An employee regularly attends a particular workplace if the attendance is frequent, or it follows a pattern, or if the place is one at which the employee usually attends for all or almost all of the period for which he or she holds, or is likely to hold, that employment.

The proportion of an employee’s working time spent at a particular workplace is a factor in determining whether or not it is treated as a permanent workplace but it is not the only factor. Even if the employee attends the workplace only on one or two days a week, if it is on a regular basis, the workplace may still be a permanent workplace"


and


"

If you make a company car available to an employee, you will need to report it as a car benefit and pay Class 1A NICs on it. But if you prohibit private use of the car and no private use occurs in a full tax year, then there’s nothing to report and no Class 1A NICs to pay.
The category ‘private use’ includes the employee’s ordinary commuting to work. In fact the only journeys not counted as private use are those:

• that form part of an employee’s employment duties (such as journeys between appointments by a service engineer)
• relating to an employee’s attendance at a temporary workplace (note that a workplace isn’t temporary if an employee can expect to be there for more than 24 months, or for all or almost all of their time working for you)"

 

[hatab]

I am a field engineer too and have been working from home for the last 8 years for the same company. i work the Midlands patch the "office" is in Manchester and i have been there 5 times in the last 8 years (5 times too many)

i claim from the moment the wheels start to roll in the morning to when they stop in the evening as company (work) miles and its never been a problem with the IR, i have had to provide mileage logs on a couple of occasions along with documented proof of the mileage (copy of maint book stamped by garage).

i also claim a small amount for elect/gas in the house off my tax

 

[wizbit77]

sorry I don't know much about fuel cards. But I would say if the company is issuing them it probably means its good for them, which in my experience means it'll be bad for you.

Wizbit77

 

[steve7713]

I am a field engineer too and have been working from home for the last 8 years for the same company. i work the Midlands patch the "office" is in Manchester and i have been there 5 times in the last 8 years (5 times too many)

i claim from the moment the wheels start to roll in the morning to when they stop in the evening as company (work) miles and its never been a problem with the IR, i have had to provide mileage logs on a couple of occasions along with documented proof of the mileage (copy of maint book stamped by garage).

i also claim a small amount for elect/gas in the house off my tax

What form do you use to claim Elect/gas, do you think you can also claim for b/band for E-mail.

 

[hatab]

my company pay phone bill so not a problem, but if you get your work and communicate via e-mail / phone for work then its probably not unreasonable for them to contribute towards the cost.

there isn't a particular form for elect/gas claim, there are some forms but probably like me unless you use a room solely for the purpose of work and nothing else then they are no good.

I wrote to IR and said i would be working from home and what could i claim as the company were offering nothing in compensation, the best they could come up with was to work out the difference in the gas/elect that was used without me being there and with and claim for the difference.

water is a fixed cost and council tax charge can only be claimed in calculation if designated room is used solely for work then its on a % of the squ footage (gets very complicated)

i have claimed for about £100 for the last few years baring in mind its tax relief on a £100 a year not £100 in you pocket, but once its done they just add it to notice of coding every year.