Fleet News has seen a mileage claim for 2,764 miles in a single month, but when it was checked by HMRC it should have only been for 1,798 miles – 35% less than the actual mileage claim which was submitted.

At an Advisory Fuel Rates of 12ppm, that equates to an over-spend over the course of a year of almost £1,400.

“What is frightening is the business had no idea,” said Amanda Philp, head of marketing at TMC. “They’ve got good records, detailed records that are filled in and signed by the appropriate people, and in a lot of ways this looks like a model fleet.”

HMRC is treating claims by the company’s 135 other drivers as similarly unchecked and has warned the business that it faces a potential charge of up to £200,000 in respect of tax-free payments it made for ‘phantom’ business miles.

Although the company could support past expenses payments with detailed records of journeys, it was unable to satisfy HMRC that it audited claims adequately.

The company concerned wished to remain anonymous, but told Fleet News that each claim it received was signed off by a line manager, so it had no reason to believe the mileages were incorrect.

“When we looked at the tax inspector’s comparisons and then learned of the amounts involved we were completely taken aback,” said the company’s finance director. “We were deeply disappointed at what had happened.”

The company has taken no disciplinary action against the drivers involved, saying that unless problems like this are noticed quickly and resolved immediately, it’s very problematic to revisit them after a long time has elapsed.

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