Tax free bikes with the Cycle to Work scheme

jizadine

babylon76 wrote: »

Is there any responsibility on the employer to ensure you actually cycle to work? My employer recently joined and I saw loads of my colleagues who live relatively close to work buy bikes and continue to drive to work! :mad:

I live 40 miles from work, so my employer wouldn't consider letting me have a bike, as there's no chance I'd cycle that distance at the start and end of the day.

I use to live 41 miles from my place of work when I got my bike. I used to cycle in every day - NOT! I used it more to cycle to Job centre ;-)

To answer your question - Nobody checks :-)

J

Any

RS1 wrote: »

Although this is a government approved scheme our company insurers inform us that during the initial lease period the company effectively owns the bike – therefore an accident could result in a claim against the employer.

Is anyone aware of this – I would be interested to find out how you get around this????
:rolleyes:

The contract our employees have to sign says that the employee is responsible for servicing and insuring the bike..

We basicaly only act as the "lender" of the cash.

As for the fair value - no, you cannot say in advance what the fair value will be. However, as mentioned before "Fair market value (FMV) is an estimate of the market value of a property, based on what a knowledgeable, and unpressured buyer is willing to pay".

5% I think is very reasonable assumption...

mcpointon_2

Hello, just so everyone knows, the Government employs aload of people that wear a uniform and defend the country, they are called the Armed Forces and they do not qualify for this scheme, is that fair?

Cloudane

Nope, it's not.

What's your point?

Ianua

I work for government in a department that has a big stake in improving the environment and reducing carbon emissions, yet it repeatedly refuses to sign up to the cycle to work scheme. Grrrrr

mcjordi

seems like a good idea

Ianua

Breaking news... government department concerned with the environment has just agreed (finally after a long battle) to sign up to the cycle to work scheme.Hurrah.

cheekymonkeb0y

what happens if you get made redundant? Do you still have to pay it all back?

coffeedog

I want to try and persuade my employer to enter this scheme. One question, with cyclescheme, does my employer have to actually buy the bike and then claim tax back? I thought this was the case but the guys at the local bike shop said it doesn't work like that, the employer doesn't pay a lump sum initially but it's all sorted through the tax system. Is this right? I can't propose it if i don't understand it myself! Thanks

joolsybools

For people whose employers won't sign up to the scheme, it might be worth trying to convince them to do bike loans instead. This is essentially the same as a season ticket loan, i.e. they pay for the bike and then you repay them over a 12 month period. Granted you don't get the tax breaks, but at least it's an interest free loan (without the need for a credit check).