Business mileage from home to various sites

Hi I am a PAYE employee, am I entitled to claim buisness mileage relief? I travel in my own car to a depot head office to book on. From the head office I will then make my way to a site where works are being carried out, the sites usually are different week in week out and also on a daily basis as my work involves attending various faults and planned works in different locations. Can I claim buisness mile expenses in my own vehicle from head office to site? Via a self assessment? Also to note I do have access for free public transport from my employer but as my work is during night time and public transport is unavailable I cannot use it. Would this affect any claims ?

I am a self employed guitar teacher and this will be my first year of travelling to my student. I have one student and travel 25 miles a day from home to their house 4 times a week. I thought I could therefore claim business mileage tax relief at 45p a mile using the simplified expenses method. But now I'm not sure - does this count as commuting, and therefore NOT eligible as business mileage? If I'm not eligible I'll just add the mileage to lesson fees, so no problem, but I need to know if I should be claiming mileage or not via my self assessment return.

Good Morning, My office base is 35 miles away from home, which we are requested to be in the office (meetings and site visits permitting) 2 days a week and the remainder we are able to work from home. The sites I am currently visiting are closer to home and in the opposite direction to the office, however I am having my commuting mileage deducted from my mileage claim when travelling from home, is this application correct ?

Hi John Cooper.
Please refer to:
Claim tax relief for your job expenses
Thank you. 

 

I am a self employed music teacher. I travel to 3 or 4 different schools each day, usually following a weekly pattern. I work at each school for between 1 and 3 hours. My schools are allocated to me by Lancashire Music service, so they are all in Lancashire and I also live in Lancashire. Am I entitled to claim mileage for the journey from home to the first school, between schools (when there are more than 1) and back home again? Or am I limited to claiming just between the schools (and not to and from home)?

Hi, I am registered as a sole trader and work as a locum pharmacist. I consider my home as my permanent place of work as this is where I organise my shifts and keep all my records. I do not have a regular place of work and every week work for different pharmacy companies in different health boards. I am wondering if my journey from home to the pharmacy I am working that day counts as buisness mileage and can be counted as an expense on my tax return. Thank you.

Hi Gaz,

Please have a look at BIM67620, regarding 'intinerant traders'

BIM37620 - Wholly and exclusively: duality of, or non-trade, purpose: travel costs: to and between sites

The arguaments are for a bricklayer, however, if you replace the bricklayer with your own circumstances, you should be able to make a decision on whether the journeys are allowable or not. We cannot make that decision for you. If you still cannot make a decision, you may wish to seek professional advice.

Thank you.

HMRC Admin 32 Many thanks, I read the BIM 37620 page, and it sounds as though I can claim because my mileage is just for my business and I am classed as an "itinerant worker" - travelling from home to my student(s) and the travelling is solely for the purpose of carrying out my business. I also checked with the HMRC Twitter help and they thought the same. I thought I would be eligible, but always best to check as I've never been in this position before !

Hi,

Yes. For most employees, ordinary commuting is the journey an employee makes most days between their home and permanent workplace.

Contracts of employment must state the location or locations (i.e. addresses) where employees are normally expected to work.  This obviously has a  are significant bearing on whether your travel between your work location(s) and home counts as ‘ordinary commuting’, although the tax office generally look at the issue in terms of what counts as your ‘regular’ place of work.

By ‘regular’ they mean your attendance for work is frequent, it follows a pattern, and is consistent for all, or almost all, of the period for which you  hold that employment. For instance, if you work in your company’s office  if three days a week and routinely work at a customer’s premises on the other two, your mileage from home to both places counts as ordinary commuting and so isn’t claimable. If you start work at the same place every day, it’s a regular workplace.  The HMRC test here tends to be if the employee spends 40 per cent or more of their working time at that place, then it is the regular place of work irrespective of the office address on the employee’s contract of  employment.

Thank you.

Hi joebone87,
Business Income Manul 37635 would suggest that the first and last journey is to and from a place of work and would not qualify for business travel. BIM37635 - Wholly and exclusively: duality of, or non-trade, purpose: travel costs: home to work: predictability of places of work
Thank you. 

Hi RB313,
Please have a look at the guidance at:- BIM37620 - Wholly and exclusively: duality of, or non-trade, purpose: travel costs: to and between sites and replace the bricklayer with your own circumstances, to see if you meet the criteria.  
If you do, then you can claim business mileage from your home to the pharmacy.
Thank you.

Hi there, I work as a freelance film subcontractor in many different areas of the industry, as well as a freelance swimming teacher and teaching assistant. This means I have well over 10 work locations that I travel to throughout the year. Some are the same, and some change every time I return to work for certain organisations, for another short-term period of employment. Please see this quote from BIM37675: "Following the decision in Horton v Young [1971] 47 TC 60 (see BIM37620), where a subcontractor works at two or more different sites during a year travelling expenses between the taxpayer’s home and those sites should normally be allowed." Does this mean I can claim all of my mileage from home to every workplace I go to? Thanks.

Hi luciben.c,
As you have two sources of self employment, you would need to consider the guidance for each freelance self employment separately, as one may qualify and the other may not.  
We cannot state whether the guidance applies to your circumstances, you have to make that decision yourself or seek the advice of a professional, such as an accountant.
Thank you.

Hi. I have a question, I am a sole trader,( gardener ) Each day I travel from my home to a place of work... Basically I work for the same customers every week on the same day each week. This however can be 4/5/ different address within one day. So let's say on a Monday I travel to my regular Monday lady.. Tuesday to a different location for my Tuesday job... Wednesday to a different area for Wednesdays work... But always the same locations on the Monday... Then the Tuesdays... Ect ect.... I have always assumed that as I travelled to the same places every week this would be classed as commuting ??? Am I right or wrong... Or is this classed as temporary places of work ??? In short I don't know if I can claim milage for the work I do within my traveling from home to job to job to job then home ??? Can anyone give me some advice and help... Much appreciated. 

Name removed admin 

My question is, my office is based 25 miles away from my home.(not self employed)I work majority of the time from home and I go in once a week to the office. During the week I visit various sites where I carry out temporary work. I wanted to know if, so most of the temporary work is not beyond or past my permanent workplace. I wanted to know if I can claim mileage for example on from home to a temporary work place that is 18 miles. The ordinary commute is confusing me.

Hi Whaddy1990,

Please refer to:

Expenses if you're self-employed

Thank you.

Hi Ymaa123 Ama,

As we would need to know more details to review you will need to contact our Income Tax team:

Income Tax: general enquiries

Thank you.

Good evening, I work for a local authority as a Building Control Surveyor. Since Covid, we work from home and carry out site visits directly from home. Around once a week I travel to the office to collect files, printing etc. I do not have an assigned desk at the office, as we now have to 'hot desk' should we need time in the office and since covid and our one office was closed, thus there is now not enough desks for all employees if we were all there at the same time at the remaining office. I therefore feel that my place of work is now my home, as this is where I am based and I travel directly to site and return without going to the council office at all. Due to this fundamental change, I feel that now my place of work is actually my home and therefore can I claim business mileage from my home address and not the office address which I rarely attend and if I do so it could be for a few minutes, or a team meeting once a month? With best regards,

Good morning, I'd like to check I've understood the guidance on travel expenses properly (https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim32150). I’m a contractual home-based worker and I travel from my home to a specific office for a team meeting on a regular basis (once a month). The purpose of each visit is for the regular team meeting. Is this office a temporary workplace even though I attend regularly, and if so can I claim travel expenses from my base (home) to this specific office on a regular basis and would these be taxable?

Hi
As there is still an office presence and a desk available, your place of work is still the office so any mileage would be based from there and not your home.