Company car tax question

[HTP99]

I am a car sales person and have the use of a company demonstrator to get to and from work and for my days off, because of the nature of business that I'm in and the fact that I may take a different car home occasionally my company car tax is based on a mid spec supermini; I believe this is standard procedure for the motor trade due to the variations of vehicles used.

18m ago audits were introduced by the manufacturer, part of this audit included checking demonstrators, they had to be on site at all times when the dealership was open and as these audits weren't pre announced we had to stop taking demonstrators on days off and holidays.

Due to the issue of not being able to take new demonstrators home on days off an holidays we had to take taxed used vehicles that were for sale, now these cars can be anything from a few months old to potentially 5-6 years old and in some cases maybe older.

So really; given the above, where do I and my colleagues stand on how company car tax is worked out?

Thanks in advance.

[rfoster]

The age of the vehicle you take home as a company car isn't that important as far as the taxman is concerned, as company car tax is based on the original list price of the car, rather than the car's current value. So it really doesn't matter whether you're in a 4 year old Mondeo or a brand new Mondeo, the company car tax is quite similar.

I think the only people who can answer your question accurately would be your HR department who'll know the guidelines they have in place with HMRC - suspect there would be little or no impact on your car tax liability.

[sumo69]

As above - most of the retail motor groups have agreements with their PAYE office regarding car and fuel benefits for staff using demos. From recollection only (I used to deal with one a few years back) the benefit is based on an "average" price of a mid-range car but your HR people should be able to give you the correct answer.

David

[Sortie 10]

Go to www HMRC.gov.uk, search on 480. Paragraph 11.23 on page 36 gives some useful information that may apply to you - it appears that if you are in car sales that commuting may not count as private use (as it would for a normal company car driver)
HTH