Mileage Allowance Home Care Assistant

Ebony1

I recently started a job as a homecare assistant. I have to use my own private car to get to the client's home from my own house. My employer does not give me any mileage allowance or any other benefits to compensate for fuel, wear and tear, insurance, road tax etc. Am I entitled to claim the mileage allowance tax refund at the end of the year ? If so, how do I go about it ?

testicle

You are not entitled to any travel allowances from your home to your place of employment.

Ebony1

What is your statement based upon ? Yes, I agree that normal travel to and from office is not considered as business travel, otherwise every employee would be claiming tax back on the journey to and from work. My situation is different. I live about 35 km away from the head office but most days I would travel directly to the client's home and between different clients and return straight back home after my last visit. The first visit of the day is most days 15 km from home, I would then travel anything between 20 to 70 km per day travelling from client to client and finally have a 15 km or so travel back home after my last client. I know of many home care providers who reimburse their employees (home care assistants) for their fuel etc. Unfortunately, my employer does not grant this benefit. I argued this with them when they offered me the job a few months ago, but still got told no. It wasn't a good reason to let the job go (knowing how difficult it is to get a job these days), so I accepted the conditions. As far as I understand it, employees who do get reimbursed by their employer can claim additional relief for any expenses not covered by their employer (in case the employer just reimburses a flat rate, rather then actual expense). Would I by the same token not be entitled to claim relief on 100% of all my incurred costs ? According to the revenue website an employee may claim a tax deduction in respect of travel expenses necessarily incurred in performing the duties of his/her employment by submitting a claim to his/her Revenue office in case the employer does not reimburse an employee in respect of the cost of the business journey. It also states that the employer’s business premises will be regarded as the normal place of work for an employee where travel is an integral part of the job involving daily appointments with customers and a business journey is one in which an employee travels from one place of work to another place of work in the performance of the duties of his/her employment. The way I understand it is that I can claim for most of my required travel.

Mrs OBumble

Ebony, any chance you go visit or call your local Revenue office and ask them? This is a fairly specialised area, I have a feeling there is some provision for folks like you , but know nothing about it.

You're likely to get the general advice that applies to most workforce on this forum, which may not cover your situation.

If you were better paid, I'd suggest asking an accountant. Hmm ... do you belong to a union - can they advise?

testicle

Ebony1 wrote: »

What is your statement based upon ?

Revenue.

Here is the form you need if you're going to apply for the tax credit - http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/forms/claim-car-expenses-capital-allowances.pdf

woody_2000

Just a reasonable guess, but you may not be entitled to any relief on your first and last trips in a day - i.e. going from home to your first destination, and then travelling home from the last location you were at. This might be considered to be tantamount, or similar, to regular travelling to and from work. Any journeys in connection with your work in between might be allowable for relief.

For example, if you travel to three locations in a day in connection with your work - allowances might be as follows:

Travel from home to first location is not eligible for relief.
Travel from first to second location is eligible for relief.
Travel from second to third location is eligible for relief.
Travel from third location to return home is not eligible for relief.

Again, just a reasonable guess - but it may be correct.