Hi,

been looking through some tax legislation at work (HMRC) concerning using your own car for business.

under the 'old' rules (and I do mean old), you could claim a proportion of all your costs of keeping the car on the road on a % basis based on business mileage covered.
If (for EG) you did 10,000 miles per year (of which 5000 were business miles (50%)) then you could claim 50% of all costs (insurance,servicing road tax etc etc) this had to be a fairly detailed claim with receipts.

the new flat rate mileage allowances, refered to Approved Mileage allowace payments - AMAPs for short (40p per mile for 1st 10,000 miles + 25p per mile thereafter) is an all encompasing re-imbursement rate that takes into account all relevant costs such as extra wear & tear, depreciation, insurance and servicing costs etc)

However, I can find no reference to a stipulation that says a person claiming the AMAP rate has to have the vehicle serviced by a garage!.

As far as HMRC is concerned its just a rate of reimbursement without 'strings attached' other then proof of mileage covered.

This is something that some employers are putting on top on their own to cover their own backs I presume. as far as the authorities are concerned it isnt a requirement!

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/paye/exb/a-z/...e-expenses.htm