Private vehicle business expenses. Is this legal?

Question

I currently get paid 25p per mile and we recieved this email yesterday. Is this legal and can it be challenged?

Gents,

With immediate effect, can we please make sure that every expense sheet submitted has fuel receipts attached from now on - the value of which MUST be greater than what you are claiming for (ie - if you are claiming mileage expense for £25 - the fuel receipts must be greater than £25). As also highlighted by BLANK, every site/area also needs to be listed on the sheets as well!

If your expenses do not have the above items (listed or attached) then I will be unable to pay them until they are completed correctly & are compliant regarding the "tax liability" perspective.

Answer 1

The request for receipts is due to a fairly recent VAT case in the European courts.

Up to this year HMRC have been relaxed about this and allowed your employer to claim back the VAT back on the petrol element of your claim without having to produce receipts.

This was declared illegal and the rules have had to be changed. The employer must now have enough receipts to cover the claim but it only needs to be enough to cover the petrol part which varies according to the car but is usually about 12 to 15p per mile.

The pther details are needed to ensure that claims are not paid on private mileage.

Answer 2

This is a bit odd, but its not unlawful. It looks to me as if your company is cracking down on mileage claims - I wonder if someone has been caught fiddling or using the bus but claiming for use of their car? Its a bit mad as the mileage allowance does not only cover petrol but MOT, servicing, insurance as well! I guess you might challenge it on that basis, but at the end of the day, your employer can demand whatever he wants.
I suppose you know that the HMRC standard rate is 40p a mile, so if you are only getting 25p, you can make a claim off your Income Tax for the balance?

Answer 3

Check on the Inland Revenue website to confirm, but as far as I am aware, if you use your own car for business use and pay for your own fuel you can claim 40p per mile for the first 10,000 Miles travelled in any tax year and 25p per mile for any additional miles.

Answer 4

To be hnoest I can't make much sense of that e-mail. Are you a private hire driver? if so, have you thought about going self employed and doing it alone or maybe with a friend. My mum an I are self employed private hire drivers and don't have all the crap you get from a boss.