Dont Know what to claim

Hi, I am a Owner/Director in my own Limited small company. I only earn 600 euro a week at the moment before tax, but have huge expenses to do with my car. I pay my own tax, insurance,
service expenses etc. I travel about 700 kms per week - but only claim a tank of petrol as dont know what else to claim, its my own car bought in 2007 value 32,000 euro. I do claim 15 euro a day meal allowance x 5 days. I pay tax on my wage of 600 euro and I have a home office as well with everything computer etc paid personally for by me. I have been running the Company for 4 years now and dont know if I am on the right track with regards to my expenses and what I am allowed. Thanks for any help in advance.

Presumably if you have a limited company you have an accountant? Have you asked him/her for advice?

Yes I have an accountant who is not very good, he told me I should be paying no tax and just receiving expenses and my payslip should be showing zero wage, he deals in a lot larger companies than me and I dont want to appear 'thick' when he says things like that to me but have no idea how to go about what he is suggesting. He told me to get the Civil Service Mileage rates which are quite confusing to me. I am in the process of changing Accountants as I feel he is not really interested in the likes of me (never takes a call from me etc).

You are paying the accountant for his services. To do this but avoid asking questions about stuff that you don't understand (or believe?) makes absolutely no sense at all. Ask him to explain matters while you are paying him anyway!

I agree, it makes no sense to be paying an accountant and not asking questions. However, I will arm you a bit of info for the next time you talk to him so you don't feel too bad

Basically, if you are using your private vehicle you should be claiming [broken link removed]. These are dealt with in detail on the Revenue website but I'll give you a brief outline...

If you are driving 700km per week, then that averages out at 33,600 per year (over 48 weeks). Based on a vehicle over 1.5L then you should be claiming approx. €15,000 in expenses for mileage alone...
First 6,437km @ 78.32c = €5,041 approx.
Remaining 27,163km (33,600 - 6437) @ 36.65c = €9,955 approx.

Also, [broken link removed] (meals etc) are €17.60 for between 5 and 10 hours and €43.13 for 10+ hours, so if you are only claiming €15 per day then you should be taking a little bit more there also.

With reference to your "basic wage being zero", I would not agree with this. You should at least be paying yourself minimum wage (~€18k?) so that you avoid paying any tax, but more likely you should be paying yourself €35,400 per year to avail of all your standard rate (20%) tax credits.

Thanks Buttermilkja, you have made my day with all that info, I really appreciate it.

Glad to hear it. I was in the same position not too long ago and while this website is a godsend at times, there's no substitute for 'good' professional advice. So with that in mind, if you're not happy with your current accountant I'd suggest you get someone else on board as early as possible so they are familiar with your business from the start.