Anyone drive a company van ? See below .

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Luckily mine has only ever been for business use, however HMRC did cock up a few months ago and put me on 50% tax rate as apparently I had a van for personal use, they were swiftly educated and luckily I got my over payment back the next month.

 
Without the use of trackers the whole  thing is debatable  unless HMRC are following you around .   OMG!!!   We can't have the working classes getting away with a little perk can we !!!  

From what I read ..not sure about this ... a company car is not the perk it used to be  ...anyone up to date on that ? 

The VAT  phoned me once , panicking about business & pleasure fuel usage  .  I claimed 100% of my van fuel back against  tax and around £6  per tank   in VAT .  They seemed happy when told my van was diesel & car was petrol .    Did I have my petrol receipts  ?  No  they're private / pleasure motoring  , what bearing can they have on anything .  

According toGo Compare-unless the vehicle is strictly for personal use,you need a form of comercial van insurance.

https://www.gocompare.com/van-insurance/business-or-private/
That would be correct  Dave.....  private motor insurance won't cover business use .     Hence in reality , if I went out to a job in my car , I'd be un- insured .

 
Many years ago when I was on call 24/7 the company paid me the government agreed rates for private cars. It covered the change in insurance rate, etc.

One thing that really annoyed me was a senior manager measuring the distance from my house to the works car park. I was claiming the route via A roads, he used the back lanes, lanes that would be blocked in winter. The argument went to board level, he was told to stop being a fool.

With the photographic business the ex wife (tax inspector) warned me off claiming for the car. “It will be nothing but trouble.” She wouldn’t do the books for me (conflict of interests) but would drop hints as to what I could claim  :happybunny:

The club promotion business was even better. It’s amazing what you can claim for “entertaining clients”   :Y

 
That would be correct  Dave.....  private motor insurance won't cover business use .     Hence in reality , if I went out to a job in my car , I'd be un- insured .


That is not strictly correct you can have personal car insurance that can also cover you for using your vehicle for business / professional use. Standard domestic car insurance includes social, domestic, pleasure and traveling to/from a place of work, (so you can drive your own car to get to work). In the same context a self employed person can have personal cover that allows them to drive to/from multiple work locations during the day in the course of their business. e.g. an electrician or plumber using an estate car/SUV type vehicle to visit numerous customers during the working day is no different to a mobile hairdresser using her/his own car to travel to clients homes whilst undertaking self employed business. But this has to be a dedicated driver, (not a pool vehicle), and not used for things such as haulage / parcel delivery, Taxi services, Work locations must be physical addresses, i.e. mobile roadside breakdown services excluded and I think building sites without existing functional premises with a royal mail recognised postcode are also excluded. (Not sure if Vans can be permitted into this category, but standard domestic cars can definitely be insured to include dedicated business use by a sole trader.

Doc H. 

 
Thats right Doc ...I was referring to the standard wording of all the private policies I ever have ...exclude business use  .   Unless, presumably ,  you pay for business too. 

 
That is not strictly correct you can have personal car insurance that can also cover you for using your vehicle for business / professional use. Standard domestic car insurance includes social, domestic, pleasure and traveling to/from a place of work, (so you can drive your own car to get to work). In the same context a self employed person can have personal cover that allows them to drive to/from multiple work locations during the day in the course of their business. e.g. an electrician or plumber using an estate car/SUV type vehicle to visit numerous customers during the working day is no different to a mobile hairdresser using her/his own car to travel to clients homes whilst undertaking self employed business. But this has to be a dedicated driver, (not a pool vehicle), and not used for things such as haulage / parcel delivery, Taxi services, Work locations must be physical addresses, i.e. mobile roadside breakdown services excluded and I think building sites without existing functional premises with a royal mail recognised postcode are also excluded. (Not sure if Vans can be permitted into this category, but standard domestic cars can definitely be insured to include dedicated business use by a sole trader.

Doc H. 
Good points, I think the points are that if you have a vehicle to use for work ie business then your insurance policy should reflect this accordingly as its being used for differing things. You can't just use a vehicle for both and have insurance only for say private etc. 

 
Yes my accountant told me that in theory ,  living in Birmingham , I could claim for a sausage sandwich  &  a kipper tie  in , say ,  Walsall, Aldridge,  Solihull ,   doesn't have to  be  miles away .  


I was thinking more along the lines of bottles of Champaign. I could also claim them as an expense for the photographic business.

 
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