Mileage Expenses - Dropping off at work

Raging Pineapples

Hi all,

I've been confronted with an odd situation and need some guidance. A domestic cleaner (sole trader) with no employees normally cycles to and from her various clients. This she claims as a business expense at the standard 20p/mile rate.

However, due to the inclement weather this winter, her husband has been making several out-of-his-way trips to take her to and from her clients. Apparently these trips are wholly and exclusively for the purpose of getting her to her clients, and are not generally combined with other things (such as him taking her to work en route to his own workplace, or while he does the shopping rounds, or picks the kids up from school).

But it creates a situation where he does twice the distance because he (obviously) doesn't stay at the client's residence. The husband drives there, drops wife off, and by all accounts drives back to where he was and continues doing whatever it was he was doing. Then when it's time to pick her up again, drives off, picks her up, then drives her back home.

Under normal circumstances, were it the sole trader herself driving the car, she would simply drive to the clients, park outside, work, then drive home, and that would all rightly qualify as a Mileage Expense. However, I don't know whether the additional journeys where the husband returns back to where he was, and then goes back to pick her up again would qualify for the relief.

What do you think? I've looked for guidance on this online but found very little information on mileage allowances in the case where someone else drops the worker off at their variable place of work in a round trip that is exclusively for the purpose of that dropping off. There is also the fact that the husband is not an employee, so also doubtful as to whether she would be able to claim an expense on her account which was actually his expense. As there is no business link between them, I'm not sure that that would work.

T.C.

Odd one, but if they really want to claim for the mileage, I would suggest that they have a mileage record for you, so that you can compare private mileage against the extra mileage. Is it really going to be enough expense to warrant all the work though?

wildgoose1uk

She is a sole trader and has the use of the car to get her to and from work. Consider her husband a volunteer donating his time to the business, presumably she does not feel confident in driving in the kind of weather we have had .... my wife would certainly prefer not to. I see no problem with claiming mileage. it is certainly cheaper than a taxi which would be another alternative.

I see it as neither here nor there about the return journey. If she were to employ a driver as opposed to her husband then the question as to if it was business related would not even be considered.

Monsoon

Agreed, its all claimable.

To look at it the long way round, if he was self employed as a driver he could claim 40p per mile for the whole trip as an expense. He would charge at least this to his client (the wife). So the wife would incur the cost of the whole trip.