Company Car Allowance

Rotty · 2 May 2008 at 13:26

Axeboy said:
I get a company car but pay no tax...

.

Axeboy · 2 May 2008 at 13:33

Its a nice scheme

Something through XXX... great scheme. Nay tax.

Something to do with interest free loans from the company,, like a personal lease paid by the company... its all good, means no tax to me anyway.

Rotty · 2 May 2008 at 13:35

Axeboy said:
Its a nice scheme

Something through Lloyds autolease... great scheme. Nay tax.

if its where the company sort out a private lease on your behalf then we moved to similar a couple of years ago, inland revenue have just informed us that it has to be stopped though

Axeboy · 2 May 2008 at 13:36

Yeah, we're safe here so far, its not a private lease... its all odd

. Plus our contracts state we will never pay car tax, the company will cover this if the scheme changed.

[TW]Fox · 2 May 2008 at 13:39

Axeboy said:
Yeah, we're safe here so far, its not a private lease... its all odd . Plus our contracts state we will never pay car tax, the company will cover this if the scheme changed.

Thats surely not legal?

Rotty · 2 May 2008 at 13:42

[TW]Fox;11614199 said:
Thats surely not legal?

It's very borderline ( at best ) as ours was, many companies have wierd systems that exploit loopholes at the moment but they are putting a stop to them recently

Axeboy · 2 May 2008 at 13:44

Well its a damn big company, as is the lease provider... and we get audited on a regular basis... so im assuming its all good.

Mad old tory · 2 May 2008 at 13:44

Surely even if the company did pay the tax for you, you in turn would face some sort of income tax on that?

Rotty · 2 May 2008 at 13:45

Mad old tory said:
Surely even if the company did pay the tax for you, you in turn would face some sort of income tax on that?

yes, a never ending spiral

IAmATeaf · 2 May 2008 at 14:58

Mad old tory said:
Surely even if the company did pay the tax for you, you in turn would face some sort of income tax on that?

Not if they declare all their cars as pool cars.

Jez · 2 May 2008 at 15:02

Scottly said:
Great, so you can afford it because you buy cars in a way that most car drivers can't. Not really a valid comparison.

You can't not include purchase costs since most people won't be able to, most of us will have to lease or get a loan to buy. That needs to be included.

e: also you'd do 100,000 miles in 2 years and still be able to break even?

You are deliberately questioning things because you dont want to believe that you havnt done your sums. If you really dont care about cars enough that you are happy to drive the car you are being given, then you could save hundreds by simply getting your own cheap mondeo or something which wont cost anything to buy or run.

Look at rotty's example, my example, any example, you can view it how you like, company cars are not worth it, end of. Its not even close enough to be arguable.

Rotty · 2 May 2008 at 15:09

IAmATeaf said:
Not if they declare all their cars as pool cars.

Pool cars are not insured for private use

Jez · 2 May 2008 at 15:20

IAmATeaf said:
Not if they declare all their cars as pool cars.

As rotty says, these need to be returned to the office at the end of their business usage.

audiolab · 2 May 2008 at 16:07

We have some pool cars and you arent allowed to take them home for tax reasons. It is viewed as a benefit and is therefore taxable. If we make a personal call on our mobile we need to declare them as this is also considered a benefit and harsh actions await those who flout any of these rules (and get caught).

IAmATeaf · 2 May 2008 at 16:13

Rotty said:
Pool cars are not insured for private use

Depends on the companies insurance surely?

Jez said:
As rotty says, these need to be returned to the office at the end of their business usage.

I know that but I used to work for a company that did exactly that, those were the good old days

aproctor · 2 May 2008 at 18:07

very interesting stuff, i knew company cars were a bit of a swiz but still good to know.

s0ck · 2 May 2008 at 18:33

I didn't have a choice of getting the cash but I did have the choice of a company car. The cost of the company car tax wasn't a huge amount more than the insurance on my Rover so the plan was to sell the Rover and enjoy the new car.

Did I sell it though?

wassap · 2 May 2008 at 20:16

Jez said:
You are deliberately questioning things because you dont want to believe that you havnt done your sums. If you really dont care about cars enough that you are happy to drive the car you are being given, then you could save hundreds by simply getting your own cheap mondeo or something which wont cost anything to buy or run.

Look at rotty's example, my example, any example, you can view it how you like, company cars are not worth it, end of. Its not even close enough to be arguable.

Yeah but if you have to have a fairly new car if you opt out of the scheme, then you arent any better off are you?

Youve obviously got a decent scheme at your place where you can drive and older higher mileage car, not all of us can do that.

For example, when i had my old ST24, i was offered another job with a car etc, i could have opted out of the scheme, but it would have meant i would have to buy a new car (less than 3 years and 80k miles), now with a £500 allowance, you cant really get something really nice, well you cant but youve got nothing left to budget for maintenance,repairs,running costs etc.

Pug · 2 May 2008 at 21:06

indeed, from my experience the jobs i've experienced either dont offer the cash, or insist on the 3 years, 80k miles.

J1nxy · 2 May 2008 at 21:06

Jez said:
You are deliberately questioning things because you dont want to believe that you havnt done your sums. If you really dont care about cars enough that you are happy to drive the car you are being given, then you could save hundreds by simply getting your own cheap mondeo or something which wont cost anything to buy or run.

Look at rotty's example, my example, any example, you can view it how you like, company cars are not worth it, end of. Its not even close enough to be arguable.

Sorry but your statement is just wrong, with each scheme having different rules etc and allowances varying it can and does make sense for people. I did the sums before taking the company car, on our scheme as I've said before, I would have under £150 a month to pay the captial or lease cost of a car, that to me makes it a no brainer. The company car although I hate it was the only option on the mileage I do a year.

To the original poster...

Do the maths for yourself you can find sites which tell you the amount of tax you will pay on the salary with and without the allowance and most car manufactures have a company car tax calculator which tells you what tax you will pay on the car for the 2 tax bands. Regardless of what anybody says on here you need to do the sums, see what figures drop out, and then based on these make an informed decision on what option works best for you.

Just as a side note on the calculations don't forget that any business mileage you do should have the distance of your commute to the office (assuming your not offically home based) before being used to calculate the amount of mileage you can claim.