Mileage can be a complex area – we recommend using Simplified Expenses and keeping track of eligible travel with our Mileage Tracker.
It’s very likely that you’ll be driving at some point, whether to team meetings, Slimming World Head Office or even into town if travelling specifically for business purposes.
This page specifically covers mileage and vehicle running costs. We also have separate articles relating to
- Parking Charges
- Vehicle or travel fines
- Congestion Charges (E.g. ULEZ, Clean Air or Low Emission Zones)
What mileage is eligible as a consultant?
Examples of mileage which you may do can include:
- Driving to a different (e.g. relief) group for observation, cover, or to generally visit on business purposes (i.e not as a member) where this would be for a period of less than 24 months*
- Driving to a team / district meeting
- Driving to Slimming World Head Office for training
- Driving into town specifically for the purpose of banking monies
You may notice that travelling to your own group(s) is not listed above – This is because HMRC treat this as ‘travel between home and work’ and these miles cannot be claimed. Any place of work which is ‘lasting more than 24 months, or comprising all or almost all of the period for which the employee is likely to hold the employment’ is not claimable. (Source: Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003, section 339 5a).
Mileage allowances and claiming expenses
When you’re self employed, you can claim mileage allowances from HMRC against any taxable profits for the usage of your personal vehicle for business purposes. HMRC provides two different methods which you can claim for – either as a proportion of Actual Vehicle Expenses or claiming through Simplified Expenses at a standard rate per mile.
Unless you have a vehicle specifically for Slimming World purposes, it is unlikely that you’ll be proportioning all of your vehicle costs – this can get difficult if your car is generally used for personal/family purposes and secondary as a vehicle for your self employment, but can still be done.
We would recommend for personal vehicles, the Simplified Expenses route is used (for simplicity!) however the Actual Vehicle Expenses route can also be used – but requires additional record keeping!
Simplified Expenses
This is recommended for most people if you’re using a normal (personal) car for Slimming World consultant purposes.
Simplified Expenses are designed to make things easier, and instead a flat rate is claimable for all eligible business miles.
You’ll just need to keep a log of all miles travelled on eligible business activity – our cloud accounts system will then calculate the relevant claim amount for you.
Under the simplified expenses route, you can claim as follows:
- First 10,000 miles: 45p per mile
- Above 10,000 miles: 25p per mile
You should keep a log of all the miles you do throughout the year – the easiest way is by using our Mileage Tracker (keep it in the car to log these as you go along!).
Example:
Chris travels 11,000 business miles over the year
10,000 miles x 45p = £4,500
1,000 miles x 25p = £250
Total claim amount: £4,750
Actual Vehicle Expenses
Actual Vehicle Expenses requires you to record details of all costs incurred by a vehicle and then proportion the relevant amount which was for business usage. This way of claiming costs may be better if you have high vehicle expenses (such as high road tax, insurance or fuel charges), however it is certainly a more time-consuming and complex way of recording expenses.
Vehicle costs you can claim for include
- Fuel
- Vehicle Insurance
- Repairs and Maintenance
- Servicing
- Breakdown cover insurance
To claim via the Actual Vehicle Expenses route, you’ll need to keep records for each year showing the number of business mileage which has been carried out in your vehicle.
You’ll need to use a HMRC-compliance mileage log book (such as our Mileage Tracker) and keep details of:
- Date of the trip
- The start and end address of each trip, including the postal code
- Distance travelled (e.g. odometer reading from inside the vehicle)
At the end of the year, you’ll then need to go through your mileage records and add up all vehicle expenses. Proportion the relevant amount against the eligible business mileage, and then you have the expenses you can claim.
Example:
Matt has a personal vehicle which through the year has overall expenses (fuel, insurance, servicing and repairs) of £8,000.
He has records showing that all vehicle mileage for the year was 10,000 of which 2,000 were eligible business miles (20% of the total miles).
As such, 20% of the £8,000 expenses amount can be claimed as a business expense (£1,600).
Business Car Insurance
Note: You will need to purchase Business Car Insurance to claim these – as your vehicle may not ordinary be covered for business purposes. Check with your insurer about this. Any additional premium for the Business element of insurance cannot be claimed if you are using Simplified Expenses.
Purchasing a van
The actual vehicle (cost of purchasing) should be classed as a Capital Expense – as it is something ‘larger’ which should last longer than a year. These are usually vans.