claiming from the tax man

[jayney 12]

hi everyone, we have recently been informed that my husband can claim travel allowance and living allowance back from the tax office he has been a contractor for many years and works away from home, he has paid a fortune out in fuel and living costs and only gets a basic night allowance from his company. he has been told he should claim travel allowance and living allowance for the last 6 years can anyone advise us how best to go about this complex procedure, we have all the details and mileage covered for the last 10 years if needed.
thanks for any advice in advance

[Ethel]

Does he use his own car or a company car?

Helpful information here:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefit s/Taxes/BeginnersGuideToTax/IncomeTax/Taxallow ancesandreliefs/DG_078389

However, the fact that he gets night allowance will go against his claim.

[jayney 12]

he uses his own car ethel he always has

[buildersmate]

Most of what you need to know is in Ethel's helpful link. The gist is that he should be able to claim tax relief (at 20%, or higher if higher rate taxpayer) on his costs that he is not reimbursed for by his company. That means calculating his milege cost at 40p per mile for the first 10000 miles in a tax year, then 25p after that. However he will have to offset the distance between his home and his normal place of work from the (weekly claim) - this is called the triangulation rule and occurs because one is not allowed to claim normal commuting from home to office (permanent place of work).
In addition he should be able to claim tax relief at his marginal tax rate for reasonable expenses for accommodation and food, less whatever his company gives him as 'night allowance'.

[jayney 12]

thanks buildersmate thats great, he doesn't have a permanent place of work as he is contracted all over the country, he usually takes his caravan and uses available caravan parks and eats in handy supermarket cafe'setc. i have looked at the link ethel sent and it is very helpful, but when i downloaded the for it only runs for 1 year ending in tax month of 2008, is it possible to claim for all previous years as he has never claimed anything back in all his years of contracting and in some cases he has never had any subsistence from other employers

[Ethel]

jayney - wait until the new year and telephone your local tax office.

You really will be very surprised at just how helpful they are. Use the information inthe link I sent to help you frame your questions.

Good luck!

[jayney 12]

thanks for all your help, i will call the tax office in the new year and get their advice, here's hoping for a nice little windfall in 2009, be nice to get something back for once instead of constant payout. thanks again youv'e been great

[Skyline D]

I think you'll be able to claim up to six years worth of expenses against income tax for those years presuming you have adequate records available for them but the tax office will keep you right on that.

Just to stress again, althoguh BM already has, you will NOT get back the actual expenses, you'll potentially get tax relief on them at either 20% or 40% (or equivalent rates in previous years). So if he's spent �1,000 in each year you'd be looking at getting �200 of it back if he's a basic rate taxpayer. Still a tidy sum over six years though.

[Tom Braider]

It will be a complex process, I'm afraid. You'll have to amend all the Self-Assessments that are "in date" - that's 3 years, I think - and make "error or mistake" claims for the rest, which means calculatign the tax overpaid yourself. I'd see how much an accountant would charge to do it, if I were you; the tax office will be helpful but they won't do it all for you; a good accountant will.