Purchase of car

[Kerenza]

Hi, I have just bought a 7 seater car to accommodate the children I look after and I understand I can only claim either the cost of the car or 40p per mile. Can anyone tell me more about this please? Thanks

Kerenza x

[tess1981]

did you ring inland rev???they have a department to answer questions like that for those self employeb. you need to think about how long you intend to keep the car and how many miles you would clock up doing school runs and see which one is more and factor that into your tax return... i'm not much help i'm afraid

[Chatterbox Childcare]

No you cannot claim the cost of the car in total in one go but you can write it off over years. Last year it was 10% but this year I believe that it goes down to 8%. You need to work out your business percentage and apply it to the amount claimed and everything else in relation to the car. Are you doing a lot of business miles in comparrision to personal ones? If no, then look at the .45p per mile

[Kerenza]

Thanks for your replies. Can I just clarify, when you say 8% does that mean I can claim that percentage of the car's cost per year? It's just that that seems really low when 5 days out of every 7 the car is used for business use only. Sorry for not understanding

[Chatterbox Childcare]

It isn't the amount of days you use the car but the business miles used

for example

the car costs you £10000 and at the end of your first year (it is different it you only start trading in the year)

310000 x 8% = £800 you divide this by 100. this you multiply by the number of business miles percentage. If you used the car 80% of the time is is £800 x 80% = £640.00 claim, obviously you need to keep a record of all business miles. You apply the same percentage to all car related costs OR do a flat .45p per mile claim on business miles

[loocyloo]

sorry to hijack thread ...

if you lease a car however, am i correct in thinking that you can put a percentage of monthly lease through the books .... say you do 100 miles a month, 80 of which are work related, then you can claim 80% of the lease fee?

and then still claim the .45p mileage allowance? i am sure thats what childminders i used to knew did.


i am looking into getting a new car and wondering about leasing one!

[Chatterbox Childcare]

I thought you just claimed 100% or business percentage of everything

mr A will be about soon as I am sure he will clear it up

[MrAnchovy]

if you lease a car however, am i correct in thinking that you can put a percentage of monthly lease through the books .... say you do 100 miles a month, 80 of which are work related, then you can claim 80% of the lease fee?

and then still claim the .45p mileage allowance? i am sure thats what childminders i used to knew did.

You can put the appropriate percentage of the INTEREST payment on the lease (or HP or other loan) through and still claim the 45p, but if you want to claim 80% of the whole lease payment you can only claim 80% of your other actual costs, not the 45p fixed rate.

[loocyloo]

You can put the appropriate percentage of the INTEREST payment on the lease (or HP or other loan) through and still claim the 45p, but if you want to claim 80% of the whole lease payment you can only claim 80% of your other actual costs, not the 45p fixed rate.

thank you, so that would 80% of service cost & MOT as well as the lease payment?

[Twinkle star]

If my husband was taking our 2 boys to school in the car 2.5 miles away but also did school runs to the same school, would he be able to claim? Or would it not be possible as he is taking our children too?

[MrAnchovy]

thank you, so that would 80% of service cost & MOT as well as the lease payment?

Yes, and 80% of insurance, tax disc, petrol/diesel, oil, tyres, possibly car wash (grey area)...

[loocyloo]

Yes, and 80% of insurance, tax disc, petrol/diesel, oil, tyres, possibly car wash (grey area)...

hmmmm. thank you. definately something to seriously consider! i need a new car ( well, dh says i do ) and i need a big car! i'm tempted by the leasing idea, although Dh is concerned that it won't be 'our' car.

[MrAnchovy]

If my husband was taking our 2 boys to school in the car 2.5 miles away but also did school runs to the same school, would he be able to claim? Or would it not be possible as he is taking our children too?

It's a grey area. If you claim it then noone is going to know unless and until you are inspected. If this happens the tax man may ask you to pay some more tax and NI, and some interest at a fairly low rate. You could contest this but it might not be worth the time and trouble.

[MrAnchovy]

Make sure you factor in to your calculations the additional charges on handback for scrapes, dents etc. For instance it is standard practice with some lease companies to charge £70 or more per wheel for refurbishment if there is the slightest curb damage to alloy wheels.