Car Allowances

[adeq1]

Even doing a fair bit of personal and driving a V8 heavy car i still break even at the very least on fuel. And thats at 21ppm. People jump at fuel cards with little thought to whether they are worth it, its much the same as the situation with the cars themselves.

I have a slightly sensible 3l Diesel, and i generally make a couple of hundred quid a month from the fuel so yes, running something a bit more thirsty is perfectly possible. However, if (like my friend for example) you live in yorkshire, for some reason choose to buy an RX-8 and start seeing a girl in cornwall then the fuel card may be a better option

 

[Snax]

I've always had car allowances, most companies i've worked for just give you a set amount (which is subject to tax ofc) and you can do what you like with it.

We've never had any restrictions on what you can get. Then depending on what you get, and how much private mileage you do its then a choice between the fuel card, or claiming back fuel costs per mile (usually 40p for the first 10k, and then 25p after), bascially if the car is costing you less than 25p/mile to keep moving, and you don't do much personal mileage then claiming the fuel costs back is going to net you more income too.

that is the important bit

instead of giving you a company car (which is a benefit the employer pays 12.8% NIC on) they pay you extra salary towards the lease of the car, which you are the legal owner of and they are guarantors.

The tweak on company cars, where you are not the legal owner, is that you get to claim a mileage allowance because you are using your car for work. this is set against the extra earnings arising from the car allowance to hopefully reduce the net effect of the car to nil; car for you, no/little extra tax to pay.

If you had a company car, you would be taxed on it as a benefit in kind and the employers would be taxed on it too.