If you work in a city, particularly London, riding a bike could save you a fortune, says Andrew Gilligan in the Evening Standard. A “little-known concession” lets taxpayers claim a 20p-a-mile allowance for using their bike for work. Commuter journeys to the same place every day don’t count, but if you use your bike for any other reason (eg, to visit a client), or travel to work in more than one place, you can claim. If you don’t have a tax return form to declare your cycling, write to your tax office at the end of the tax year stating the number of business miles cycled and that you are claiming ‘mileage allowance relief’.
The concession is available for employees, but will probably benefit the self-employed most. A higher-rate taxpayer cycling from Chiswick, say, to various parts of London five days a week would save more than £400 a year. Better still, you can claim backdated relief, plus interest, for the business cycling you’ve done in every year since the concession was introduced in 1999. The rate used to be 12p a mile, not 20p, but that still adds up to around £2,500 for that hypothetical Chiswick freelancer: “enough for a fortnight in Mauritius”.