| Date: 09 November 2008 |
Ref: 971 |
|
|
DP writes: I am about to become a partner in a medical-practice partnership and am familiar with most expenses that can be claimed for tax purposes. I will be using my own car for work and have previously received a fixed mileage rate. I understand this is not normal for a GP. What records should I keep for my motor expenses and what can I claim for tax against my share of profits?
|
|
|
You will need to keep detailed records of your car usage and expenses, writes Jon Sutcliffe, partner at Kingston Smith LLP.
You should keep a mileage log to record the business and private journeys you make, which will establish what proportion is for business purposes. This log should be maintained for the whole year, although Revenue & Customs has often accepted a mileage log for a typical month as representative of the whole year.
Business mileage generally excludes journeys between the home and the surgery. However, if you are on call and travel direct to a patient from your home, then the trip would be regarded as a business journey.
The expenses claim should include all vehicle running costs such as the road-fund licence, insurance, repairs, fuel, cleaning, breakdown-cover premiums and finance costs. (Make sure you keep all the relevant documentation.)
Capital allowances on the cost of the car are also available and, like the expenses, are restricted by the business-use proportion for the vehicle. The same calculation can be done for a second vehicle if it is also used for business.
The motor-expenses claim is made through the medical-practice partnership tax return. It is therefore important that each partner prepares his or her expenses claim in good time so as to avoid any delay in the tax affairs of the partnership or those of their practice partners.
|
|
|
|