Company van,perk or pain ?

[MrV]

After working for myself (in the building sector)for the last 20 years and seeing work either dry up or prices being cut to a stage where it has pretty much cost me money to do jobs I took the plunge and applied for a few jobs working for someone else.

I had an interview today and was offered a project managers job,(although the money is not great anything is better than nothing) but part of the package is a company van and fuel card (I was told as long as I don't take the piss then they will just look on all fuel being used as on company business)

I am just trying to work out how much having the van is worth a year or whether I would be better pushing for more money and using my own and just asking for a fuel card.

I am guessing I will be looking at doing between 250 to 500 miles a week dependent on where the jobs are.

[jdbecks]

keep the van, you can use it if you dont take the piss, and it wont cost you anything to insure, run and maintain.

[Defcon5]

Yeah, a friend has a similar deal, we use his van for all sorts, its a real asset

[XDA]

Unlike a company car, I'm pretty sure a company van won't cost you anything in tax if it's only used for "business use".

I would take it if I were you - It'll cost you nothing and all tax/insurance/servicing/tyres/breakdown cover costs are paid for by your employer!

[phil-sti]

i have a van, i declare it to the tax and it cost's me £10 a week. my company don't care what i use it for and supply the fuel.

[MrV]

Thanks guys looks like a company van it is then

I like the look of the Freelander but only have the choice of a Vito or Transporter ,both are 6 months old but would prefer the Merc as it is RWD and is the duel version so has a set of seats in the back should more than 2 of us want to go out.

[Eric Mc]

The bad news is that there is a a Benefit in Kind (BIK) charge for the use of a Company Van.

The good news is that the BIK on Company Vans is very, very generous and bears no relationship at all to the much more stringent BIK rules on Company Cars.

The taxable benefit on a Company Van is £3,000. This flat charge is levied if there is any private useage of the van i.e. the individual uses the van outside of normal business activities.
HOWEVER, the definition of "private useage" for vans is nothing like the definition for cars.

Private Useage of a van EXCLUDES

- driving the van to and from work day i/e the daily commute is NOT deemed to be Private Useage which is the opposite of how cars are treated.
- using the van for "occasional" non-business trips (visits to local tip, picking up large packages for home use etc)

You do need to be careful though. If the van is the only vehicle in your household, you might find it very difficult to argue that the van is not used for normal home use - like visiting friends and family, going to the shops, dropping the kids off to school etc. If there is no other vehicle in the house, you could be charged the £3,000.

It is the EMPLOYER'S responsibility to return details of BIK vans each year so most employees may not be aware of what is going on regarding how the use of their van is or isn't being taxed. Monitoring their PAYE Notices of Coding is strongly advisable because, if HMRC discovers that a van was not properly returned by the employer, they will chase the EMPLOYEE for underpaid PAYE.
The employee will also have a legal duty to declare the BIK IF they complete Self Assessment tax returns.

Edited by Eric Mc on Friday 24th December 09:56

[davethebunny]

wot eric said.

If you just use to for co use and to work and back it is free.

If you use it for personal use then the £3000 BIK is due. Plus £500 for fuel

So if you have a car and use that for personal use, then the van is a very good deal. Less so if you don't have a car.

But a personal use van would cost circa £700 a year in additional tax.

Can't really run a car for that.

[MrV]

Thanks for the heads up on the tax issues Eric and Dave, it would be a third vehicle so I think I will be ok from that point of view.

[HSV_Rulz]

How about one of these - all builders in Australia have at least one

You can order one thru Vauxhall



or you can get a similar older model....

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2254108.htm

Classified as a commercial vehicle in UK.