Our car mileage rules changed on 1 April 2006.
Main rule change is this:
"All employees who submit mileage claim forms for journeys undertaken after 1 April 2006 are required to provide VAT fuel receipts."
"The employer will not process car mileage claims for payment if the empoyee fails to submit fuel receipts in support of the claim."
Due to the fact we get paid four weekly mileage claim periods nearly always straddle two months.
The period in question is 13 March to 9 April 2006, due to me forgetting I have no VAT receipts for this period and the claim was lodged in early July. Having due regard to the wording of the rules above should I be paid for journeys undertaken in March?
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Key phrase here:
"submit mileage claim forms" Assuming you're trying ot recover March's based on a mileage claim form submitted after the 1st of April, then unless VAT receipts are given, they are under no obligation to pay you.
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Your employer's statement was "All employees who submit mileage claim forms for journeys undertaken after 1 April 2006 are required to provide VAT fuel receipts."
Therefore, I believe you should be paid for the journeys taken between March 13th and 31st even without fuel receipts.
You don't happen to know a hoarder (like SWMBO) who's likely to have a few service station receipts from April lurking in their wallet, do you?
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OOPS! Quite right Gromit. The previous rules would seem to apply...whatever they were. I thought it was simply standard business sense to provide VAT receipts in such claims anyway, to reduce fraudulent claims...
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Where I work I just certify that I have done mileage and I get paid for it. There is an assumption that I have put fuel into my car and have paid for it myself. Not that I want to go on the fiddle but, apart from overstating the miles I have done I can't get any extra cash. How does VAT and fraudulent claiming come into the equation?
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On belated reflection I guess this is all to do with fuel claims for running company or lease cars! What a dim Armitage I am!
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On belated reflection I guess this is all to do with fuel claims for running company or lease cars! What a dim Armitage I am!
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No, you're not - AFAIK it applies to those of us who aren't sufficiently high up the food chain to qualify for either co or lease car and thus have to use our own cars for business travel. That's the case here, at least.
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How does VAT and fraudulent claimingcome into the equation?
My lot have not long brought this in - apparently in January our mates at HM Revenue & Customs changed the rules on employers reclaiming VAT on business mileage, so that now they will only allow a reclaim where VAT receipts for the fuel are submitted to them.
Quite what HMRC propose to do with the mountains of receipts they will get as a result remains to be seen...
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Quite what HMRC propose to do with the mountains of receipts they will get as a result remains to be seen...
They want the company to keep them for 6 years in case they want to see one! AFAIK they don't have to be included with the VAT claim.
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It's because VAT receipts also happen to contain litres of fuel used. That way we have a vague idea of whether these claims are business or personal.
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I have also had to provide vat receipts to support my mileage claim and, as the organisation wants to know the type of car I drive, I assume some calculation on the vat refund can be made from the mpg figures. I was told that the vat petrol receipt was to prove that I had paid vat on my petrol purchases - I would love to know where in the UK I could buy petrol WITHOUT paying vat! It's paperwork for the sake of paperwork - but then, that's the sort of nonesense one expects these days.
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Where I work this was introduced back in January.
I have handed in expense claims that span 2 or 3 rolling months. I have to submit a VAT receipt that covers each of those rolling months otherwise I risk not being repaid the full amount. Yes, VAT can be refunded with respect to the government mileage figures. For this they only need the VAT number. The fact that they also get litres and miles (which has always been the case anyway) is irrelevant.
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We have the same ruling at our place. It seems crazy, but apparently it is some new tax rule that says you have to have some form of VSAT receipt for any item you wish to claim back VAT on. So I get a VAT receipt every time I buy fuel so that I can bung it in with my bulk mileage claim. Although I have to say (as I said to our finance department) where can I buy fuel with no VAT on it in the UK anyway (short of using Red diesel) ??
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Update - I have won the argument and will be paid in full.
The first post after my original post was what was being argued by my employer - if the claim was made after 1 April I needed a VAT receipt regardless of when the journeys were made. We were informed of the new rules in mid March!
The next post is how I read it and took in to the argument the full sattement, not just parts of it. What they meant to say was the first assumption, but due to a cock up the rules were as I typed.
A VAT receipt is needed as my employer can claim back the VAT element of the fuel element of my mileage payment, but they now need evidence to show VAT has been paid on the fuel purchase. As I drive a diesel a quick visit to a lorry park to buy some cheap fuel from an Eastern European trucker or a trip to the local farmer for some red diesel could be a possibility.
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