Unwanted company car

[anonymous-user]

OK ,have a question someone should know the answer too.
Have a friend who got a company car as part of her job, the employer is being somewhat anal about her using it for personal use even though she is paying tax on it. She would thus rather not have the car and pay the tax on it, then run her own cheapy car for herself.

Is there a legal way of not paying the company car tax, I.E by leaving the car at the company premises out of working hours. What would be involved far as HMRC are concerned.

[WhereamI]

With the cooperation of the employer, yes there is. They can declare to HMRC that there is no private use and then. I tax will be paid. There will need to be some evidence of this, usually a written agreement and it is also best to keep a record of mileage when it is used

[odyssey2200]

WhereamI said:

With the cooperation of the employer, yes there is. They can declare to HMRC that there is no private use and then. I tax will be paid. There will need to be some evidence of this, usually a written agreement and it is also best to keep a record of mileage when it is used

The last conversation I had with the clowns at HMRC, I said that I would not use the car for private use and therefore not pay tax.

I was told that I had to pay the tax, even if I didn't use it as it was "available" to me.

[WhereamI]

odyssey2200 said:

WhereamI said:

With the cooperation of the employer, yes there is. They can declare to HMRC that there is no private use and then. I tax will be paid. There will need to be some evidence of this, usually a written agreement and it is also best to keep a record of mileage when it is used

The last conversation I had with the clowns at HMRC, I said that I would not use the car for private use and therefore not pay tax.

I was told that I had to pay the tax, even if I didn't use it as it was "available" to me.

Well of you leave it at your place of work that is not correct. But if you take it home then it is.

[odyssey2200]

WhereamI said:

Well of you leave it at your place of work that is not correct. But if you take it home then it is.

My Place of work (HQ) was 350 miles away and I worked from home, so collecting the car every Monday morning was a non starter.
I could still have used the car for totally business use and not for any private mileage.

I may have even waived the parking/storage fees for them.

[BE57 TOY]

If she only uses it for work and doesn't use it from home to work or work to home then there's no private usage.

Obviously her employer will be submitting her p11d so they will need to be in agreement.

Otherwise it could get a bit legal!!

[WhereamI]

odyssey2200 said:

WhereamI said:

Well of you leave it at your place of work that is not correct. But if you take it home then it is.

My Place of work (HQ) was 350 miles away and I worked from home, so collecting the car every Monday morning was a non starter.
I could still have used the car for totally business use and not for any private mileage.

I may have even waived the parking/storage fees for them.

What did your employment contract say? If that did not permit personal use and you kept accurate records to show no personal use then they would not declare it on your P11D and you would have the evidence to support it, but if you stored it as home and had a contract that allowed personal use and it was on your P11D you won't get far with HMRC.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Get you company to tell their motor insurer that the car in question is for business use only, and get the insurer to issue a certificate excluding sd&p. This can sometimes be a battle with insurers because it's such an unusual request, but if you get the certificate and produce it to HMRC, they cannot charge BIK on it becuase it's no longer available to be used. It's effectively a pool car. But as stated earlier, you cannot commute to & from in the car, you need to leave it at work. If you work from home and the car is kept at home, you will have to pay BIK even if only using it for work.

[Sir Fergie]

Expecting an employee to pay tax on a company car and then getting the hump because said employee wishes to use the car for her own use when not at work is absolutely retarded from the companies viewpoint.

What the fk is the point in having the company car if the employer doesn't want you to use the car for personal use outside work.

Id very quickly get very bored and cranky if I had to pay company car tax on a car the employer said I could not use outside work .

Op - how much driving does your friend do for work - and is leaving the car at work at the end of each day actually practical. Would a car allowance - or doing a deal with the employer to pay expenses for use of her own private car for work be an option at all (don't forget if doing this - the insurance would need to be upgraded to cover business use).

Sir Fergie

[MitchT]

At face value it looks pretty unfair - having to pay company car tax and still having to pay to run your own car because you're not allowed to use the company car for personal journeys. That said, it can depend how much the company car tax is, how long your commute is and how much your own car is worth. If the planets line up just right it could be that the money saved in depreciation and wear & tear on your own car, plus maybe saving on insurance by reducing the mileage on your policy, actually leaves you saving more than you're having to pay in CC tax.