Schools run mileage when you collect your own kids too

**Chell** · 04-02-2010, 09:09 PM

If you collect children from school but are also collecting your own children, do you claim these miles or any percentage of them?

**Ripeberry** · 04-02-2010, 09:14 PM

I don't think so, as you are doing the trip to collect your children. Anything else you do with the mindees can be claimed for

**RainbowMum** · 04-02-2010, 09:35 PM

before I moved to walking distance of the school I used to put through mileage if I had to take/collect mindees to/from school - my argument was hubby could have done it in his car if it was just our 2

**Alibali** · 04-02-2010, 09:37 PM

My 2 could walk home alone, so yes I claim as I'm going for minded children, even though I collect mine too.

aly · 04-02-2010, 10:45 PM

i do but then it'seasy for me as i collect from a different school.

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 05-02-2010, 02:43 PM

I would charge 100% as you are going there for mindees

**susi513** · 06-02-2010, 02:39 PM

I would claim 100% as this is an essential journey for your business; you would still make the journey with mindees if your children weren't in the car for whatever reason. eg if your children attend an afterschool activity and are travelling home with a friend at the end of an activity, you would still be using your car to collect the mindees from school.

However, if you weren't childminding and working elsewhere, there are a number of options available to your children (okay most of them probably aren't practical but as far as the taxman is concerned they are possible) ... bus, cycle, taxi, travelling with a friend or neighbour etc.

**susi513** · 06-02-2010, 02:46 PM

Sorry, looks like I am wrong on this...

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/BIM47701.htm says clearly you cannot claim for "journeys that serve both a business and a private purpose"

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 06-02-2010, 07:36 PM

I think you can claim it. I was told by the IR that you could claim anything that when you had a mindee in the car and were going for business use.

If you are unsure please contact he IR for clarification.

Lady Haha · 11-02-2010, 02:55 PM

I think I will ring them actually! As this came up before and since then I haven't been putting mileage through my accounts (which I do weekly) as the only time I use the car for mindees is during school runs when I am taking and picking up my own son from the same school. It does seem a bit of a grey area as it could cover all sorts of outings if your own child was in the car too!

And to be fair, if it was just my son, we would walk to and from school, but not doing that with six or seven of the little blighters!!!!

**Minstrel** · 11-02-2010, 08:20 PM

I'm not sure whether i can claim for m sons schools run either?

If it was just him i would be walking him to school, but i drop at another school in the other direction first and it doesn't leave me with enough time to walk him.

At the moment I only claim the portion to the first school and back to my house, (I drive right past my door again) but i'm wondering if i could claim the whole journey?

Any thoughts gratefully received?

**Nix** · 12-02-2010, 06:53 AM

I went on a Tax Course late last year and were told that if you are taking your children in the car too you cannot claim mileage. This includes schools, the park, toddler groups etc.

Caused a lot of uproar in the room!

Hope this helps. If you are still unsure I would speak with HMRC.

Is claiming mileage the better option for you? It may be better to claim petrol and all other costs instead...

Lady Haha · 12-02-2010, 10:59 AM

yay! Just got off the phone to INland Revenue and after a bit of discussion between all the tax people there it comes down to this:

If you are picking up/taking your own child to school and there are no mindees you cannot claim (obvious). But if there are mindees in the car, you CAN claim. The logic behind this is that you could, in theory, get some one else to pick up/take your own child, but you couldn't get some one else to pick up/take mindees, so YES, we can claim for mileage!!!

Gonna go back and claim for mileage for the last six months now!!!

**Chell** · 12-02-2010, 12:22 PM

Originally Posted by blackandsparkly

yay! Just got off the phone to INland Revenue and after a bit of discussion between all the tax people there it comes down to this:

If you are picking up/taking your own child to school and there are no mindees you cannot claim (obvious). But if there are mindees in the car, you CAN claim. The logic behind this is that you could, in theory, get some one else to pick up/take your own child, but you couldn't get some one else to pick up/take mindees, so YES, we can claim for mileage!!!

Gonna go back and claim for mileage for the last six months now!!!

Thank you for that!

**Jelly Baby** · 12-02-2010, 12:26 PM

Gosh i read this thinking 'oh no'..i always claim for my mindees in the car despite having dd in most of the time too. We have a 15 min drive so would find it unfair if we couldn't.
Thanks for finding out x

TheBTeam · 12-02-2010, 01:50 PM

Hooray for common sense! I was just getting worried about the trips for the mindees that i have to drag my kids on and having to credit back all the mileage! My poor kids dont want to go, but we insist as dont want the mindees indoors all day everyday in hols but cant afford to take them to places with huge entrance fees, we have to take our kids as they are too young to leave behind, so i am relieved I can still claim mileage.

**Nix** · 12-02-2010, 04:31 PM

Isn't childminding great. The tax office and now in the same league as Ofsted...different rules depending on who you speak to!!

Ah well...

**SmartKids** · 19-02-2010, 08:49 AM

Phew!!! I have been claiming for anywhere I go when I have mindees in car as was told a few years ago that you could use this to the mindees advantage eg we go past a small local airfield and we see how many planes we can see taking off. I also claim for my trip to supmarkets/town when buying for mindees even if I am buying something for my own family as I was told this was ok too - why do they keep changing what we are able to claim for!!!!