Peri travel expenses Options

[jeannine]

I was wondering if anyone could help me with this. I'm a self-employed peri teacher and I go to a different school every day. I live in London and use a weekly travel card, rather than pay as you go. Can I claim a percentage of the travel card (ie on the days I'm working) as travel expenses?
Any advice would be much appreciated!

[porilo]

I'm the same (although I call myself an "itinerant" teacher, just to be awkward- can't stand the outdated and old-fashioned "peri" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) ). My accountant advised me, several years ago, to just claim the cost of a return ticket for each journey, and that's what I have always done, even though I'm not actually paying the full cost as I have a monthly travelcard too. I would suggest that you seek advice from your accountant as to the best way of claiming travel costs because they are definitely a valid expense.

[jeannine]

The return ticket idea makes more sense than the percentage of the travel card I've been doing, thanks for that. That was the advice I got a couple of years ago from a very sleepy sounding advisor at Inland Revenue. I've started to doubt this because a colleague of mine said that you can't claim for the journey between your home and the school because it's a set journey every week, rather than a random gig, for example. However, if I was to go to several different schools during the day, I could claim travel between the schools.
I don't have an accountant, my finances are generally very simple, and of course I can ring up the Inland Revenue as well, but I did want to ask here first to see if anyone else was in the same situation.

[PianoNotes]

I have twice spoken to the Inland Revenue in the past. Until quite recently I bought a travel card for my self-employed work and explained to the Inland Revenue that as I lived in London it was inevitable that I would use it for other travel as well. I was told it was fine for me to claim the full expense of the travel card as I had bought it for my work but the very nature of the card lent itself to making other journeys as well.

[porilo]

I don't have an accountant, my finances are generally very simple, and of course I can ring up the Inland Revenue as well, but I did want to ask here first to see if anyone else was in the same situation.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif) Don't ring the "enemy". They will only give you advice to profit themselves and try all sorts of tricks to squeeze as much tax out of you as possible. That's why I have always used an accountant. I am not paid to do my own accounts (and would probably make a total mess if I tried!), that is his job. His expenses are tax deductible which means that less of my hard-earned money goes to the Inland Revenue and I can rest assured that everything has been done properly.

[owainsutton]

The return ticket idea makes more sense than the percentage of the travel card I've been doing, thanks for that. That was the advice I got a couple of years ago from a very sleepy sounding advisor at Inland Revenue. I've started to doubt this because a colleague of mine said that you can't claim for the journey between your home and the school because it's a set journey every week, rather than a random gig, for example. However, if I was to go to several different schools during the day, I could claim travel between the schools.

In this situation, it depends on your employment status. If self-employed, all travel can be claimed, because your business address is your home. If employed by a school, you cannot claim any expenses for the journey to the workplace, no more than any other teacher could. (If an employer pays for the journey from home to work, it's a taxable benefit rather than an expense.)

If employed by a music service, and the terms of employment cover travel expenses, this will cover journies between schools but not from home to work. Normally a service will designate one school central to your patch as the 'place of work' for travel purposes, and you can claim the equivalent of getting from there to your first school of the day, provided your actual journey isn't shorter.

...can't stand the outdated and old-fashioned "peri"...

I rather like the connection to Aristotle (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[jeannine]

In this situation, it depends on your employment status. If self-employed, all travel can be claimed, because your business address is your home. If employed by a school, you cannot claim any expenses for the journey to the workplace, no more than any other teacher could. (If an employer pays for the journey from home to work, it's a taxable benefit rather than an expense.)

Okay, well that clears it up for me then, thank you very much!

Edit: I'm not very good with the quote system...