[easycleaner]

I run two wfp vans, I run one and one of my guys runs the other. The tax man is charging my worker tax on the private use and me for mine. I told them we dont use them for private, we got to prove it and show them mile logs that match the fuel bill, what a real pain. Fat cats rip the tax man off for millions and he wants tax on £500!
Just so annoyed!! and fed up of form filling.
If you have blokes work for you or claim in full tax relief for your van keep milage sheets.
Mart.
Ps if you owe millions in tax dont worry! they wont bother you.

[Nathanael Jones]

Do you have an accountant?

You'll find that the tax man bothers you a lot less if you do!

[dave0123]

Fat cats rip the tax man off for millions and he wants tax on £500!

Of course! its more easy for him to go after you than it is for someone like tesco! or SKY etc what can we do at the end of the day?

[cozy]

Do you have an accountant?

You'll find that the tax man bothers you a lot less if you do!

Well said, accountant cost a few quid but they can solve
 probs like that for you

[pingu]

Just keep a daily log with things like start miles/end miles and when you fill up what the milage was and how many miles are on the trip thingy.

I keep loads of information about my daily work...just so I can answer those niggly questions the grim reaper may ask come judgment day...it only take a few minutes each evening to note it down.

Cheers
Dave.

but yes I do agree it is a little small potatoes is it not.

[Tosh]

Do you have an accountant?

You'll find that the tax man bothers you a lot less if you do!

I think you'll find that's wrong.

The criteria for a tax enquiry is as follows:

1.   A sudden decline in your turnover from previous tax returns.
2.   Information received from a third party indicating something could be 'dodgy'.
3.   At random; their computer system selects a certain amount of accounts for random auditing.

[Tosh]

That’s true the Tax man will be less bother, if you have an accountant.

How?  I can show you in 'black and white' the criteria for a tax inquiry; can you show me similar for your above statement?

Being an ex-accountant myself (not a tax one though), having an accountant wouldn't put an auditor from checking your accounts.  Why should it?  The tax auditor will just ask for information for them to check, and whether it's you or the accountant supplying it to him is neither here nor there.

[CHARLEY B]

everyone has to prove they only use their vans for business and if you use it for anything else I wont say social domestic & pleasure just anything else the tax bill
you can expect is £3000 a year not £500. so be warned. 

[Pole 2 Pole]

I'm not on either side of the fence here gang, but i did see(i think it was panorama) about a year ago and a tax inspector(who didn't want her face to be seen for obvious reasons) did state that they normally don't bother with the larger companies who can afford expensive lawyers/solicitors/accountants as they put up a hell of a fight...............also(the interesting part) people with accountants for similar reasons. The people they enjoy ripping apart are the small fish/self employed/small businesses without accountants as they're easy pickings. These aint my thoughts Tosh. It's what i saw. Nonetheless,i don't doubt what you're saying. For once  

[Alex Wingrove]

This works without fail, phone him up and ask how much can i claim for my car that i use to go a quote work,

an accountant  i know did that and the tax man left him alone after finding out he will loose more than he can save

[EZclean]

i dont understand... can you elaborate on that 

[easycleaner]

The comments are all valid. Yes I do have an accountant, but the tax man belives that if you deal in cash you dont tell the truth. We all have to pay tax but at times I think we are all easy targets, the masses that is. I will have to pay about £200 and I wont be able to put all my diesel receipts in. In these times its easy to get a few quid of millions that millions of a few.
Mart.

[ftp]

How do they know your using the van for anything else? I might collect at the weekend, work, or price up jobs 

[AuRavelling79]

How do they know your using the van for anything else? I might collect at the weekend, work, or price up jobs 

If you have another vehicle that helps - as in you use your family car for all private mileage and the van purely for work.

[sparklebright]

There are two parts to filing your accounts.

Not only must you tell the truth, but you must look like you are telling the truth as well, and that is where an accountant comes into his own.

He knows what you can and cannot claim for. What the revenue view with suspicion and what they are OK with.
Worth the money I would say...

[Clive McDonald]

good posts tosh.

The cast iron defense has nothing to do with accountants, it's that you have another vehicle, a car.

That's an absolute defence.

Of course if you don't have another vehicle then a proportion may be for private use.

Assuming you are at the early stages of an enquiry this is probably a ploy to give you something to think about and will probably be dropped once they get their teeth into your cash situation.

The best strategy is a slow retreat, you have to let them win, but be carefull because they go back to when you started your current set up or seven years, so £500 soon becomes £3000. Be cooperative, just this side of groveling, although they don't object tp groveling.This will avoid penalties.

If you really are up the creek i can give you a couple of off forum survival tipps.

[macmac]

There are two parts to filing your accounts.

Not only must you tell the truth, but you must look like you are telling the truth as well, and that is where an accountant comes into his own.

He knows what you can and cannot claim for. What the revenue view with suspicion and what they are OK with.
Worth the money I would say...

Too true, mine told me never to claim 100% usage for my van for that very reason, 95% is fine
just take 5% off all my vehicle expenses.

Tony

[rah]

There are two parts to filing your accounts.

Not only must you tell the truth, but you must look like you are telling the truth as well, and that is where an accountant comes into his own.

He knows what you can and cannot claim for. What the revenue view with suspicion and what they are OK with.
Worth the money I would say...

Too true, mine told me never to claim 100% usage for my van for that very reason, 95% is fine
just take 5% off all my vehicle expenses.

Tony

+1 on the 95% claim,

Rob.

[easycleaner]

A lot of the tax system is done on scales ie if you use a van for private use its worth £500 in benefit, so tax is payable on £500, you have to prove that you dont use it for private use, ie its locked up in a yard. But if you work from home and your men do its going to be a hard job to prove it and it makes you an easy target and belive me this is going to happen to more people.
What do you claim for? van, fuel, phone office from home all ligit, but can you prove it?
Mart.

[leapstallbuildings]

There are two parts to filing your accounts.

Not only must you tell the truth, but you must look like you are telling the truth as well, and that is where an accountant comes into his own.

He knows what you can and cannot claim for. What the revenue view with suspicion and what they are OK with.
Worth the money I would say...

Too true, mine told me never to claim 100% usage for my van for that very reason, 95% is fine
just take 5% off all my vehicle expenses.

Tony

Seems reasonable.  My van is my only vehicle and I have 85% as business use.  When I had a car as well it was 100% PLUS a little for the car as I used it for quoting certain jobs where turning up in a work van may not have given a good impression.