New job offer.... comes with a FUEL CARD for the M5!

[M5 Mark]

Well I've been toying with the idea with getting rid of the E60 M5 for some time, not sure I could ever go along with it though after the new headers and exhaust and big brake kit getting fitted next week was probably always kidding myself.

I've been offered a new job, same pay as I'm on now so no biggy there BUT includes a FUEL CARD! They know what car I drive and bear in mind I do around 35-40k a year in the year and currently lose out big style with just 17p a mile coming back from my present company, meaning I'm down about £150 a week in fuel at the moment....

What a great way to hook someone into moving, imagine a FUEL free M5....

[chrisr29]

Nice, but what about the tax angle as it's a benefit in kind?

[Gibo993]

You pay the tax (I would assume at the higher rate) so you pay around 40% of all the fuel you use, still a very nice 'perk'

hope the new job goes well!

[survivalist]

True, but you can also claim 40% back on the 40p/25p milage allowance on business miles. That's assuming that the 40k+ miles are for business rather than personal/commuting. Even with heavy drinking cars it works out quite well.

[x5x3]

survivalist said:

True, but you can also claim 40% back on the 40p/25p milage allowance on business miles. That's assuming that the 40k+ miles are for business rather than personal/commuting. Even with heavy drinking cars it works out quite well.

You can claim back 40p per business mile for the first 10K and then 25p per mile after that.

I have a fuel card and with the 335d I made about £5K pa in tax back plus of course the free fuel, with the M3 I think it may be a little less.....

[Vroomer]

You can't claim back 40p per mile if the company is paying for the petrol.

[M5 Mark]

x5x3 said:

survivalist said:

True, but you can also claim 40% back on the 40p/25p milage allowance on business miles. That's assuming that the 40k+ miles are for business rather than personal/commuting. Even with heavy drinking cars it works out quite well.

You can claim back 40p per business mile for the first 10K and then 25p per mile after that.

I have a fuel card and with the 335d I made about £5K pa in tax back plus of course the free fuel, with the M3 I think it may be a little less.....

I do currently claim the difference back between the company 17p and the goverment 40p and 25p but it really doesn;t even begin to scratch the surface of doing 40k a year in an M5. The tax disadvantage of a fuel card, is 1300 a year off tax code, so well worth it in my opinion. Will find out next week if I'm going to take this job...

[x5x3]

I think from memory there are different ways that fuel provided by an employed can be taxed.

Here is how it works for me, I have a fuel card, I use it, the company adds up how much I spend and at the end of the year they report this amount on my P11D. This amount, I think it was about £1300 last year becomes a BIK and is therefore taxable.

So, even if I am a 40% tax payer, then the cost to me is £520.

However, because I use my personal car for business travel I can claim back the business proportion of the total annual miles I did, so for example I think I did about 8300 business miles last year, so I can claim back 8300 miles @40p a mile = £3320 on my tax return.

So I am in fact making a "profit" here.

Of course this is not true as I have to buy and pay for the car, I have to pay for insurance and I also have to pay for tyres, exhaust, etc and of course depreciation. I suspect this is where the maths of running an M5 or M3 becomes less attractive!

I think the little known fact here is that you can claim back the 40p/25p as long as you use your car for work purposes (to and from the office does not count in most cases). You do of course need to deduct any contribution the company makes (e.g. they may pay you Xp per mile).

Clearly I should add that I am not a qualified tax accountant and everyone should seek the advice of a suitably qualified professional with regards to their own personal situation.

[blueg33]

Vroomer said:

You can't claim back 40p per mile if the company is paying for the petrol.

Yes you can if the company estimate the cost of the fuel and declare it as a benefit in kind. OP will they pay tax on the benefit, but will be able to claim the 40/25ppm. I was skeptical, but did it for years and taxman was quite happy. I think the key point is that the car is privately owned not a company car

[LC23]

blueg33 said:

Vroomer said:

You can't claim back 40p per mile if the company is paying for the petrol.

Yes you can if the company estimate the cost of the fuel and declare it as a benefit in kind. OP will they pay tax on the benefit, but will be able to claim the 40/25ppm. I was skeptical, but did it for years and taxman was quite happy. I think the key point is that the car is privately owned not a company car

This is correct. Fuel provided for your own car then the benefit is the cost of the fuel provided. The fuel benefit charge only applies to company cars. You can then claim the 40p/25p per mile against this on your Tax Return.

[drivin_me_nuts]

Useful thing this fuel card. When I was running my E39 M5 on a fuel card at 85p a litre (it was a while back) my annual fuel bill was around £8500. Of course 40% of that makes a real difference, never the less if it's an E90 M5 you've got then you are really going to get bored of seeing petrol stations.

Even with a six figure salary it's a lot of cash out the pocket

[shamrock]

I'm loving my fuel card and company car, I didn't realise how lucrative it could be until this year as I'd always taken the cash previously.

My fuel card covers both business and private miles, I pay tax on the latter as a BIK. Due to the calculation used though (base MPG and cost per litre) it is currently a nicer little earner. Add on top of that the cost of insurance, maintenance, car tax, etc and it's happy days!!