Excessive mileage?

[stargazer1]

Any other minders in rural Wales will know what I mean when I say that everything is miles away! Our nearest big town with access to decent resources etc is 26 miles away. We have always travelled this every weekend to do our food shop. I have now been doing one trip a week for mindees food, craft resources, etc but as it is a 52 mile round trip, at 45p a mile is works out £23.40 one a week. Is this unreasonable?? We have one small convenience supermarket in the village I live in but to be honest it is extortionate and I consider that I get far better deals travelling. The things that worries me isnt putting down £23.40 per week, but if I decide to take to take the children to soft play or something then we are talking the same distance again. Is the tax man likely to question that level of fuel costs? TBH I dont really see a way around it but it just seems like a lot. :panic:

[christine e]

If you do the miles then log them and put them down as an expense. I take and collect children from school every day as the 1.5 mile trip each way is a bit much for young chidren so I have 30 miles a week for the school run - some might think this is excessive but I do it - I cannot remember the last time I walked to school must be well over a year ago

Cx

[stargazer1]

Thanks for your reply. Like I said, anyone in this sort of area will understand how far EVERYTHING is. We are so used to it as we have to travel this distance every time we need clothes, toiletries etc (unless we want to spend a fortune in the convenience store). It just wasnt until I started logging it that I realised how far it is! But in the big town, I can shop in Aldi which is far more reasonable for food, there is a big Tesco, there is a big The Range store for crafts etc, PC world for ink etc and all in one place. So to me it makes much more sense to travel it. Just didnt want the tax man telling me theres a limit on mileage or something! x

[ajs]

Any other minders in rural Wales will know what I mean when I say that everything is miles away! Our nearest big town with access to decent resources etc is 26 miles away. We have always travelled this every weekend to do our food shop. I have now been doing one trip a week for mindees food, craft resources, etc but as it is a 52 mile round trip, at 45p a mile is works out £23.40 one a week. Is this unreasonable?? We have one small convenience supermarket in the village I live in but to be honest it is extortionate and I consider that I get far better deals travelling. The things that worries me isnt putting down £23.40 per week, but if I decide to take to take the children to soft play or something then we are talking the same distance again. Is the tax man likely to question that level of fuel costs? TBH I dont really see a way around it but it just seems like a lot. :panic:

To be honest if it's a genuine expense then it doesn't matter if the tax man doesn't like it. As long as you can back up the expense with paperwork it doesn't matter that it seems a lot

[manjay]

You can argue you case as to why you need to do that mileage so that is fine:thumbsup:

Most of our current work is Flying Start so we collect children from home. We can do up to 200 miles a week:rolleyes: but I can justify every single one.

[aly]

oh i know what you mean.....the local softplays around have closed down so we have to go out further...{mindees mum is hoping to open one closer}

You have done the mileage, you can justify it, so claim it....it's not excessive as it is a need etc.