EIM71170 - Volunteer drivers’ guidance: records and returns

Records

You must keep records of your receipts for at least 2 years.

You do not need to keep any records of your other motoring costs where you have claimed the tax-free allowances rather than claim actual expenses.

If you calculate your profit using only your actual expense figures, you must keep records of all your expenses, and the number of miles travelled both privately and for the volunteer organisation(s) for at least 2 years.

If you do not make a claim in respect of any additional expenses and only receive payments in respect of your volunteer mileage that are within the published rates, you need only retain details of your total volunteer mileage for that tax year.

If you are unsure what records to keep, please contact the HMRC Self Assessment Helpline who will be able to explain what records are needed.

Personal allowances

Depending on your other income, you may have allowances and reliefs available to set against any profits you receive as a volunteer driver.

Profit tables

Some volunteer organisations, including the hospital car service, provide profit tables showing already calculated profit figures.

Tax return

If the costs that you have incurred for volunteer driving (as explained above) are more than the total mileage payments received, then you will not have made a profit. You do not need to do anything further.

If you have made a profit from volunteer driving, you may need to complete a Self Assessment Tax Return and should show any profit from your volunteer driving under ‘Other UK income not included on supplementary pages’.

If this is the first time you are making a tax return then you may need to register for Self Assessment to get a Unique Taxpayer Reference. You must do this by 5 October of the tax year following the tax year in which you make the profit.

If you use the tax-free mileage allowances, the amount return to HMRC is your profit as calculated based on the examples above. If you calculate your profit using your actual expense figures, then report the amount left after all expenses are deducted.