Company Car/Fuel Card Question
Discussion
Started a new job yesterday (retail area manager) and picked up my company car and was issued a fuel card.
Car is a brand new Diesel Focus which is ideal for me as its low on BIK tax and will be pretty much if not only used for business and I've got a much less economical car for personal use.
I don't really mind paying the BIK tax on the car circa £50pm but the company issues a fully expensed fuel card which will effectively cost me £75pm BIK for fuel I wont be using.
I did ask if it was possible to submit my mileage and be charged for personal miles like I have done in every other job but was told they don't have a function for this to take place.
Just wondering what people's thoughts were on the matter?
Car is a brand new Diesel Focus which is ideal for me as its low on BIK tax and will be pretty much if not only used for business and I've got a much less economical car for personal use.
I don't really mind paying the BIK tax on the car circa £50pm but the company issues a fully expensed fuel card which will effectively cost me £75pm BIK for fuel I wont be using.
I did ask if it was possible to submit my mileage and be charged for personal miles like I have done in every other job but was told they don't have a function for this to take place.
Just wondering what people's thoughts were on the matter?
You can either scrap the fuel card and put the juice in yourself and reclaim by the business mile
You can pay for fuel on the card but insist it's only for business use to avoid paying the bik on the fuel. Then repay any personal mileage as a deduction from your business expenses or directly via salary.
Or just keep the card and pay the duty safe in the knowledge that you can drive anywhere in the UK for £75/month or £17/week.
What ever you do, don't rely on your new employer to sort your tax code out. Do it yourself.
You can pay for fuel on the card but insist it's only for business use to avoid paying the bik on the fuel. Then repay any personal mileage as a deduction from your business expenses or directly via salary.
Or just keep the card and pay the duty safe in the knowledge that you can drive anywhere in the UK for £75/month or £17/week.
What ever you do, don't rely on your new employer to sort your tax code out. Do it yourself.
Pferdestarke said:
You can either scrap the fuel card and put the juice in yourself and reclaim by the business mile
You can pay for fuel on the card but insist it's only for business use to avoid paying the bik on the fuel. Then repay any personal mileage as a deduction from your business expenses or directly via salary.
No he can't - he already said his employer won't allow that.You can pay for fuel on the card but insist it's only for business use to avoid paying the bik on the fuel. Then repay any personal mileage as a deduction from your business expenses or directly via salary.
Pferdestarke said:
Or just keep the card and pay the duty safe in the knowledge that you can drive anywhere in the UK for £75/month or £17/week.
In the firm I used to work for, they moaned at people who did high private mileage, and threatened to limit it to "reasonable" use.I get what your saying, you have to do so many personal miles per month to offset the balance of the fuel card, quick example meaning you would need to do 750 miles at 10p per mile just to break even, thats 187 miles a week.
In my own case i barely do 30 miles a week so that would (on the above case) equate to £16.
I cant see how legally you can NOT claim personal miles as your effectively being forced to pay more tax than necessary.
Every firm ive been to, have been very open about giving the option to take the fuel tax or claim each mile.
I think its more a case, the company dont want the extra admin work involved if its just for the one employee
In my own case i barely do 30 miles a week so that would (on the above case) equate to £16.
I cant see how legally you can NOT claim personal miles as your effectively being forced to pay more tax than necessary.
Every firm ive been to, have been very open about giving the option to take the fuel tax or claim each mile.
I think its more a case, the company dont want the extra admin work involved if its just for the one employee
Royce44 said:
I think its more a case, the company dont want the extra admin work involved ...
That's exactly it. Same issue arises when people say they don't want to use the car itself for non-business use, so they don't want to pay BIK on the car. HMRC taxes based on availability for private use, so to not pay BIK the car (and free fuel) has to be made unavailable. That's very difficult for a company to enforce and they'll be in trouble with HMRC if employees get caught out.
Off the top of my head (and it varies car to car, fuel prices etc), but you will need to do approximately 45-50k miles a year to see any benefit from the fuel card.
There might be another option with this though; you could try to convince the company to let you change car? If you had something with more grunt but still within company policy, you might find the fuel card works in your favour. For example, one of our directors had a BMW X6 3.0 diesel and a fuel card. It drank fuel, but he didn't care as the fuel card covered it (minus the tax of course).
There might be another option with this though; you could try to convince the company to let you change car? If you had something with more grunt but still within company policy, you might find the fuel card works in your favour. For example, one of our directors had a BMW X6 3.0 diesel and a fuel card. It drank fuel, but he didn't care as the fuel card covered it (minus the tax of course).
The Beaver King said:
Off the top of my head (and it varies car to car, fuel prices etc), but you will need to do approximately 45-50k miles a year to see any benefit from the fuel card.
It does vary a bit, but it's nothing like 50K. Somewhere around 7.5K for a 20% tax payer and 15K for 40%.And those figures assume the vehicle does the Government MPG figures which is reality are often way out, so the break-even private mileage could be some way lower.
Cheers for all the input.
Changing cars isn't an option and wouldn't benefit me as I already have a 370Z as my other car which I use for personal miles.
I'm happy paying the BIK on the car as I do have the use of it but the fuel BIK which is more than the car is the thing thats grating on me.
Think my question really is - Can the company force me to take a taxable fuel card?
Changing cars isn't an option and wouldn't benefit me as I already have a 370Z as my other car which I use for personal miles.
I'm happy paying the BIK on the car as I do have the use of it but the fuel BIK which is more than the car is the thing thats grating on me.
Think my question really is - Can the company force me to take a taxable fuel card?
Sy1441 said:
Think my question really is - Can the company force me to take a taxable fuel card?
Yes.It's a double whammy if you're not really using the car privately at all, as the car BIK you pay is based on its availability for private use. In the old days we used to have petrol company cars and we'd fill up our OH's car now and again.
I don't have any specific evidence, but it's my impression that providing private fuel is becoming more unusual now as it doesn't make sense for many people, especially higher rate tax payers.
The problem is, ironically, you are giving them a problem as they have a given process. If you can understand what the issues are then perhaps you can give a solution that fits both.
For example there are fuel cards out there where you log your private mileage online. It calculates a cost per miles based on your fill up price and feeds this to your payroll for a deduction.
For example there are fuel cards out there where you log your private mileage online. It calculates a cost per miles based on your fill up price and feeds this to your payroll for a deduction.
OP, take the fuelcard (as they are not giving you a choice) but calculate your private mileage costs each month and write a cheque to your employer to reimburse them. A firm can insist you use a fuel card but they can't insist that they pay for your private fuel.
You are not taxed for having a fuel card, you are taxing for getting private fuel free, which you won't be. If they haven't got a system for this, then they need to invent one. Just take the chq into HR every month, whether they like it or not.
Get on to HMRC and ensure they haven't included free private fuel on your BIK figure.
You are not taxed for having a fuel card, you are taxing for getting private fuel free, which you won't be. If they haven't got a system for this, then they need to invent one. Just take the chq into HR every month, whether they like it or not.
Get on to HMRC and ensure they haven't included free private fuel on your BIK figure.
Edited by TwigtheWonderkid on Thursday 4th December 14:25
Sheepshanks said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
OJust take the chq into HR every month, whether they like it or not.
PistonHeads never ceases to amuse.750turbo said:
Hackney said:
FWIW the commute to the office (if you have one) is personal miles, not business.
What if the OP is classed as "Home Based" though - He is an "area" manager.I am home based, travel all over the country, and am allowed to claim business mileage from home to wherever...
I have known of people caught out by this.
Also, not sure if this is an IR thing or company specific, but if you have a 10 mile commute to the office, you can't claim mileage for journeys to other places until you've passed 10 miles, as this is the only additional expense. Again, not necessarily relevant to the OP
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