A little too taxing for me

What a revelation! HMRC giveth - it does not take away! For the first three quarters of today's training course (cunningly entitled "Newly Self Employed - The Basics" - no reference to tax, you notice), I was amazed that I'd not been aware of this secret. Specifically: if you're self-employed, you can claim 45 pence a mile for business-related driving. It's just the same as claiming mileage as an employee, said the trainer; simply note the purpose of the journey and you'll get reimbursed. At least, that's what my eager brain thought he said. How could I combine editorial services with long distance driving? Surely there was potential for a very lucrative income stream. Best add it to my business plan.

Then I listened a bit harder to the trainer telling us how to deduct taxable expenses from profits. Oh. It is at least to the sole trader's advantage but only terms of reducing the tax bill. HMRC doesn't giveth after all.

And so you will conclude, as I did, that I was right to suspect last week that I need all the help I can get on matters of finance. The course was actually fairly useful, if only to highlight how to get things right. Other, non-tax related, points of information were:

• Public sector cuts have not only reduced the number of courses available but also stopped the serving of coffee and tea altogether. Such rationing does not seem to extend to Business Link, which offered rather tasty traybakes at the racecourse last week.
• Two of the delegates (a couple) run a mobile petting zoo, providing rabbits to after school clubs and lizards to wedding receptions. They said they're training a barn owl to fly down church aisles with the rings. I suppose that's a more reliable courier than some of the best men I've heard of.
• HMRC Norwich is cleverly disguised as a Premier Inn and can only be accessed via a secret door. There must be a metaphor about tax returns in there somewhere.