J came downstairs earlier today and announced that the company was having a tax review, and if anyone had any questions. “How will that affect me and my fuel card?” I piped up. First mistake.
In March ‘07, I asked K, the person who looks after the money, if I could have a fuel card. K obliged and promptly ordered me one. Since that day I stopped keeping track of my business mileage, as it would have been rude to claim for mileage when I wasn’t paying for my fuel.
Around April/May time I asked what implications this would have on my tax. “Not sure,” came the reply,so we (me, K and my boss P) mutually and informally agreed that, because I was paying for my car and the wear and tear, they’d pay for my fuel and not tax me for it.
Case closed.
Roll forward fifteen months, I’m sitting around the table with the three of them looking at me.
“Who authorised your fuel card?” said P.
“Well, I don’t know,” came my reply. I looked at K. “If memory serves me correctly, I asked you for it,” tipping my head towards K, “and you just sorted it out for me. I also spoke to you about it,” looking at P now, “as I was unsure of the tax implications, and we all agreed to overlook it until we had answers.”
“No I didn’t,” came P’s reply.
“Don’t you remember?”
“If I’d have done it I would have remembered, but at no time at all have I had a discussion with you about your fuel card,” P insisted. “V didn’t know you had one, J didn’t know you had got one, and I didn’t know you had one, so I don’t know who authorised it.”
J said “the first thing V said to me was ‘who is he to have a fuel card? I don’t even have one. Why does he need one?’ and even I don’t have one.”
“All I know is I asked for one and I got one. I don’t really see how this is my fault.”
“We just need to know who authorised it,” J said.
“Yes,” P said, looking at me.
The tone of my voice changed slightly. “Are you incinuating that I authorised it myself?”
“Well, I didn’t authorise it, nobody else sat around this table authorised it, so we need to find out who did.”
“How exactly would I have ordered my own fuel card after I’d only been working for the company for three months?”
“In his defence,” J interrupted, “if he was to go to the person responsible for fuel cards and ask for one, the person he asked probably didn’t think to check, so we need to establish why an authorisation wasn’t sought at all.”
“You either have a fuel card with a company car or not at all,” P said, “so no authority needs to be sought.”
“Obviously it does,” J said, “or we wouldn’t be in this place.”
P opened his mouth, and closed it again. He folded his arms, and adjusted his position in his chair.
K remained silent. Apparently I’ve used £2,882 worth of fuel since last March, and that doesn’t include the last two months. So now I have to go back through the last year’s worth of records (which I only have from putting together pieces from emails and my diary) to find out where I’ve been and how long it took.
If I can prove that, at 40p/mile, I’ve done more than £2,882 worth of business mileage, then it’s not classed as a benefit, and I can even claim more mileage on top of that.
Unfortunately my records only add up to £1,800 worth at the moment.
“There’s only one thing left,” J said.
“You want the card back?”
“Yes please.”
I went downstairs, saw that my job offer letter was in my email, smiled, and got my keys to go home.
