Question:
I have recently started running a pub, and I have brought in chefs to increase my food trade, but I am having to pick them up/take them home twice a day for their shifts as they cannot/do not drive. Can I claim mileage for this? The pub is in a very rural area and doesn't have good public transport links.
Arthur Weller replies:
See HMRC’s Employment Income manual at www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim21831 (and the subsequent three pages: EIM21832, EIM21833 and EIM21834). It says there ‘Where an employee is provided with a taxi paid for by his or her employer for a journey from work to home, this represents a benefit to the employee because journeys between an employee’s home and permanent place of work are private journeys.’ So, your business can claim this as an allowable business expense, but it will be taxable on the employees (see there for the rules about the ‘late night exemption’).
