Company Car or Van?

Newsletter issue - September 07.

The taxable benefit of using a company van for private journeys is now £3,000 per year, plus an extra £500 if fuel is provided. If you pay tax at the 40% rate, that amounts to an additional tax bill of £1,400. Compare that to the benefit of using a company car that cost say £22,000 with a CO2 emissions rating of 178gr/km. The total taxable benefit of car plus fuel would be £8008, which at the 40% rate is a tax charge of £3293.20 for 2007/08.

Most company vans are hardly suitable for using for family transport, but there are some very comfortable double-cab pick-ups that do count as vans for tax purposes. There are two criteria to meet:

  • The vehicle must be designed primarily to carry goods or other loads; and
  • It should be designed to take a payload of at least 1 tonne, but weigh no more than 3,500kgs, when fully laden. Anything heavier makes it a heavy goods vehicle which does not carry a benefit in kind charge for the driver.

The payload test can be tricky as a fibre-glass cover for the back will eat-into the payload amount. Check with the manufacturer or dealer about the payload for the particular model you are interested in, as a few kilos out will mean you pay tax of a percentage of the list price as a company car, rather than the flat rate benefit of £3000 as a van.

What our clients say about us...

  • "Paul has provided accountancy services to my company for 2 years now. I can recommend Paul very highly; his skills as an accountant are highly detailed and professional and he is always available to provide advice. One aspect of the way Paul works that I greatly appreciate is a preference to meet face to face when there is a detailed conversation to be had. I personally find this more productive and is a benefit of working with a small accountancy firm that you wouldn't get with the large faceless providers."

    ALISTAIR FAIRWEATHER - PROGRAMME & PROJECT MANAGER, DELIVERING/RESCUING I.T. 7 BUSINESS CHANGE WITH BUDGETS UPTO £50M INC SUPPIER MANAGEMENT

  • "I couldn't ask for more from Paul as an Accountant. Paul has been accountant to Work Relief Charity Recruitment for just over a year now and is proving an invaluable asset. Accurate, knowledgeable, flexible with an emphasis on service delivery, I would recommend Paul's services to any organisation looking for an accounts professional."

    Neil Price - Managing Director at Work Relief Charity Recruitment

  • "Paul was a referral from a family member when I started my business 2 years ago. As this was the first time I had ever run my own company I was totally clueless over the financial side of matters and was worried that I may have made mistakes in any of my accounting. I needn't have worried as after enaging Paul for a set monthly fee he was always there on the end of the phone for all sorts of questions I had and no matter how trivial they were Paul gave me all the information I required and more and did an excellent and painless job at the end of my first year! Couldn't ask for any better to be honest. Just two words - hire him!!!"

    Lee Westrap MBCS - Director - Bulldog IT Services

Request a Callback
Please complete our form
to request a callback
Get a Fixed Quote

Competitive fixed quotes
for agreed services

Find out how to Make more, Keep more and Work less

Increase your profit and
reduce tax liabilities

Your Business Size?

Expert advice for your
business size

 

Marker

Booth & Co  |   The Hermitage  |   15a Shenfield Road  |   Brentwood  |   Essex  |   CM15 8AG        Telephone: 01277 224666    |   Email: info@boothandco.co.uk