Travel expenses claimable to temporary place of work, in the UK.?

Question

If I have a permanent place of work 15 miles away, I am contracted to work there permenantly but my contract says in certain crcumstances in the interests of the company I can and will be located elsewhere, such places are not defined. When this happens (about 10% of my contracted hours) I travel more than 15 miles, say 20 miles, my company says I can only claim the excess miles travelled, 5 miles in this case or 10 miles as its a return journey. A friend of mine said as I am travelling to a temporary place of work, I can claim relief for the whole cost of the journey from my home i.e 20 miles plus 20 miles return = 40 miles in total, is this true? If so can I claim back any milage I may have been due?

Answer 1

There are two aspects here and it is important not to confuse the two.

When you attend the temporary workplace you are using your own car for business mileage. It is usual to be recompensed by your employer for these journeys. The amount the company pays you is a matter between you and the company. The method of calculation should be detailed in your contract of employment.

On the other hand, tax relief is given for business travel. The journey from home to the temporary workplace is business travel for the whole distance. I've given the link to the Revenue's own manual covering this if you're brave enough to face it.

If, in your example, your employer only pays you for 10 miles then you can claim tax relief on the remaining 30 miles. Assuming your total business mileage is less than 10,000 miles in the year you will receive 22% of (30 miles @ 40p) = £2.64 if you are a basic rate taxpayer or 40% of the same figure = £4.80.

Answer 2

You need to tread carefully, the IR are pretty unforgiving about stuff like this. eg: classing a 500 mile round trip as "ordinary commuting" and disallowing 2 years worth of travel claims resulting in a few grands worth of tax rebate having to be paid back. Despite them initially allowing it to be claimed.

Answer 3

Sorry but you can only claim for the excess over and above what you would have normally travelled to your "normal" place of work. You can't claim for what you would normally travel.