Amazon Flex Mileage Claim

[stoofur]

I recently decided to try out Amazon Flex as a second job.
I understand that you can claim the mileage back against your tax return (45p per mile upto 100,000 Miles). I understand that you can't claim mileage to a regular place of work (i.e. the Amazon Depot) as this is considered commuting. My question is, when I finish my shift I could be anywhere in the area that my depot covers. Can I claim the mileage from the final customer back to my house? This could vary considerably depending upon where my final customer is.
Thank you all for your feedback.

[DTCwordfan]

I would have thought that you could claim the delta between where you are and a 'standard' journey.....

How do you find working for them?

[bobbinwales]

Are you employed by amazon or selfemployed or paid via a agency or a umbrella company

[barry1010]

Yes you can

[stoofur]

Thanks for the quick replies. You work for yourself as a sole trader (they supply the car insurance at the moment, I think when they take that away they will lose a lot of drivers). I've only done three shifts and I have really enjoyed it. One shift I did over 11,000 steps and climbed 16 floors (according to my watch). I live in the Bournemouth area and there aren't any skyscrapers.

[THECORBYLOON]

The 45p applies only to the first 10,000 miles, for any travel above that, its 25p a mile.

[bobbinwales]

So are you paid per delivery and presume minimum wage don't apply . And no sickpay or holiday's? Could still be worthwhile and enjoyable. Goodluck

[stoofur]

You are right CorbyLoon. I put in an extra zero. As you say first 10,000 miles (as you can see my accounting skills may need some polishing)

[AuntPG]

You cannot claim mileage to your place of work; however , you can claim the mileage from your last customer back to your home. This is assuming you don't have to go back to the depot to sign off. If you do go back to the depot after your last delivery, then you can still claim the mileage from your last customer back to the depot. I am 100% sure on this.

[stoofur]

Bobinwales. As you say Amazon offer a block of say 3 hours at a certain rate (in my area it’s £39, but I did accept an evening 3 hour 1/2 hour block for £84). No sick pay as you say but I’m doing it around my full time job so I’m ok with that.

[THECORBYLOON]

Drivers need to arrange business class 3 insurance.

"Amazon Flex will provide the hire and reward insurance top up for you, but you will need to have business class 3 insurance which you will need to acquire yourself. This would mean you have unlimited long distance travel and your vehicle can be used for commercial purposes. This is the same type of insurance required by Hermes. When you seek out your insurance you need to make sure your policy covers you for courier use. You would be required to sort out this insurance before you are able to start working for Amazon Flex."

https://www.insurancerevolution.co.uk/blog/a-guide-to-hermes-amazon-and-other-self-employed-delivery-driver-insurance/

[stoofur]

Thanks AuntPG. Today I finished my shift 30 miles away from home. Yesterday I was only 4 miles. So it makes quite a difference

[Hopkirk]

How can HMRC check if your mileage claims are genuine?

[AuntPG]

^^^ you keep your fuel receipts, and you keep a record of your deliveries. HMRC won't automatically check but if they do you need the paperwork

[THECORBYLOON]

How do they check mileage claims for any self-employed person?

They must have data indicating reasonable mileage figures over certain periods for this type of employment.

If they had any doubts or if they claims are selected at random for a check, they could ask for evidence to corroborate the claim or contact Amazon to substantiate the mileage claimed.

The journeys are notified via an app so it is likely the data are available to examine.

[bobbinwales]

I also expect the amount you can claim tax back for is limited to the tax you payed on your earnings. So if you earn only just above the basic tax allowance from part time work and pay little tax you cant claim much tax back so no point in inflating milage

[AuntPG]

Sorry but that makes no sense. If you are an employee on PAYE and have a self-employed job you only have one tax allowance. For example if you earned £15k as an Employee you would be taxed on that minus your personal allowance. Anything earned outside of the PAYE scheme is taxed separately. When you fill in your self assessment you have to declare earned income and any tax paid on it, then self-employed income minus allowable deductibles.
If you earn less than the personal Tax allowance on earned income then you can use any spare allowances against self-employed work.

[Hopkirk]

No point in keeping fuel receipts. They don't prove mileage, and you aren't claiming for fuel.

[Hopkirk]

You might have an electric car as well.

[Buenchico]

>>> No point in keeping fuel receipts

Agreed. Even if you had receipts, there would be no way of knowing whether the fuel was used for work travel or for getting to a naughty weekend in Brighton. The whole point of the fixed rate allowance scheme anyway is that it does away with the need to claim individual expenses. (e.g. you can't claim for the costs of servicing your vehicle, or for additional wear and tear, on it because such costs are all included within the flat rate payments).

As others have indicated, you can't claim mileage from your home to the Amazon depot at the start of each shift
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim32163 but you most definitely can to get home from your last drop.

[stoofur]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I even got an answer from the famous Buenchico (Chris).