.png)
.png)
London congestion charge
The London congestion charging scheme comes into effect from 17 February 2003. The Inland Revenue has issued some information as to whether the charge is tax deductible where incurred in the course of business travel.
When a self-employed person incurs the congestion charge as part of his normal business travelling expenses, it will generally be tax deductible. Congestion charges incurred for personal journeys, including home to work travel, will not.
London congestion charge
The London congestion charging scheme comes into effect from 17 February 2003. The Inland Revenue has issued some information as to whether the charge is tax deductible where incurred in the course of business travel.
When a self-employed person incurs the congestion charge as part of his normal business travelling expenses, it will generally be tax deductible. Congestion charges incurred for personal journeys, including home to work travel, will not.
Likewise, for employees and officeholders, there is no tax relief for any costs, including the congestion charge, relating to ordinary commuting or private travel. Tax relief is available if the congestion charge is incurred while the employee is travelling in the course of carrying out his job, or in travelling to or from a temporary workplace.
For employers, congestion charges for which tax relief is available to employees and officeholders can be included in dispensations. They can then be paid free of tax. This is possible because they are not mileage allowance payments, which are in relation to expenses incurred on all journeys, for example, fuel. They are additional costs incurred on a particular journey but unrelated to mileage; another example is parking costs.
The revenue says that it will consider any tax issues raised by the charge, once it has been up and running.
(Source: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk)
Pensions Updates
Customers who have enjoyed receiving their paper copies of the Revenue's Pensions Updates, which have included amendments to Occupational Pension Schemes Practice Notes (IR12) and Personal Pension Schemes Practice Notes (IR76), will be deprived of this pleasure from 30 November 2003. From this date, it will be published on the Internet only, albeit free of charge, and therefore available exclusively to those with Internet access.
The Revenue states that 'following a publications review, we have found that in order to provide a more streamlined service efficiently to all our customers we will only be publishing Updates and amendments on the Internet'. This change will take effect from 30 November 2003.
(Source: Pensions Update No 136 dated 7 February 2003.)
Revenue triumphant!
By midnight on 31 January 2003, 324,710 tax returns had been filed by Internet, compared to 76,287 received by Internet the previous year, an increase of over 425 per cent.
In addition, 364,625 had been sent using the electronic lodgement service.
The figures for paper returns are not yet available.
(Source: Inland Revenue news release dated 1 February 2003.)
