Company Van Tax

[Dave]

Am i right in thinking that this is going to change very shortly, and that the 'allowance' for vans is going to disappear ?

My accountant was asking me who's name the van was in as the taxable amount had gone from £500 to £3000!!!

[Booster]

I'll be your personal TSN finance man today Dave

Yep, £3000 BIK on vans from next month unless it is used ONLY for work purposes

[Dave]

Yea, that's what i thought..

i don't use my van for any personal use at all.. i walk to and from work and pick up my van there

[Ari]

Then there should be no benefit in kind tax Dave.

Same with a company car, if you use a pool car for work related issues only then you don't pay co car tax (personal use includes gonig to and from home though so you can't use it to get to work, it must already be there, which sounds like how it is with your van).

[garcon magnifique]

I think the rules have all channged now, but I remember t'days of having a company van.

Because of course a van is essential to my (then) role as an IT contractor writing programs. It had nothing to do with saving shedloads of money on fuel that may or may not have accidentally gone in the Senator while the van was being thrashed round Leicester by my sister...

[Ari]

The rules have changed indeed, but I'm sure that the tax is a benefit in kind tax (ie you're being taxed on the financial benefit of having the use of the van to drive to work and back, take your stuff to the tip in it at the weekend, pick the kids up from school, whatever).

However if you have no benefit because you don't take the van home then you should have no benefit in kind tax.

Let me put it another way. Bus drivers don't pay company vehicle tax on their bus cos they don't get any personal benefit from driving the bus (ie they don't take it home at night).

[Newbie123]

Actually the rules on van benefit aren't as strict as the ones for cars.

If the personal use of the van is insignificant then there is no van benefit. The Revenue consider commuting from home to work in the van as insignificant and therefore there is no benefit to an employee/director who takes the van home at night for safe keeping / ease of use. Obviously what is not considering insignificant is using the van personally to go to the tip , do the shopping etc every week.

(note the above does not apply to cars)

So Dave you could take the van home every night, use your car for all your personal errands and there would be no van benefit chargeable on you.