Can I claim tax relief on vehicle maintenance?

[CanoeSniffer]

I have a couple of houses rented out, not as a business but just privately. I do the majority of the maintenance myself and in order to facilitate this have been running a small truck for moving materials etc. My question is whether I can claim the maintenance of this vehicle as tax relief?

[Eric Mc]

Yes - but I tend to merge costs like that in to a Propert Management heading.

[LooneyTunes]

Given it's not a dedicated vehicle in a formal structure, expect your accountant may ask how much of that vehicle maintenance is attributable to those properties?

[Mr Pointy]

LooneyTunes said:

Given it's not a dedicated vehicle in a formal structure, expect your accountant may ask how much of that vehicle maintenance is attributable to those properties?

And for you to defend any labour rates if you're charging for that. I'd also suggest good record keeping of expenses of course.

[Eric Mc]

An alternative is to use the 45p mileage allowance which HMRC allows as a replacement for actual vehicle running costs. No record needs to be kept apart from evidence that the journeys were undertaken - which could be just a diary note.

[MaxFromage]

Mr Pointy said:

And for you to defend any labour rates if you're charging for that. I'd also suggest good record keeping of expenses of course.

You can't charge for working on your own properties unless you are trading via a limited company.

[Mr Pointy]

MaxFromage said:

Mr Pointy said:

And for you to defend any labour rates if you're charging for that. I'd also suggest good record keeping of expenses of course.

You can't charge for working on your own properties unless you are trading via a limited company.

But you might try & charge for the hours you spend maintaining the vehicle.

[MaxFromage]

Mr Pointy said:

But you might try & charge for the hours you spend maintaining the vehicle.

That wouldn't be allowable either.

[Eric Mc]

Charging for hours would be rather pointless. What's the point of claiming a deduction for a cost in your rental income accounts that would then have to be declared as self employed income?

You would save a small amount of tax in one area but have to declare additional tax in another.

[MaxFromage]

You could have husband and wife using the £1K s/e allowance to save £800 for no real effort.

[Mr Pointy]

Eric Mc said:

Charging for hours would be rather pointless. What's the point of claiming a deduction for a cost in your rental income accounts that would then have to be declared as self employed income?

You would save a small amount of tax in one area but have to declare additional tax in another.

Because if you had any sense you'd make sure it was £999 worth of labour.