I'm scared

badmumof1

Barneysmom you have my sympathy.
My DH has a company car, on a low wage and trust me it is NOT a perk.
He couldnt do his job without the car and it should be classed as part of his tool box LOL.
Problem we are having is that his car is 6 years old but the list price has not altered and the tax office said he is paying tax on the car as if it is a brand new car and not a older car. They wont help sort it out though.
He is due to change the car for a brand new Skoda Octavia in January which will hopefully help the tax go down a abit.
Tax credit people even take the car into account too !!!

roger_c

If someone is using their car ONLY for work (but can take it home at night and park it there) then they should consider getting a 'van'. This would mean that no benefit in kind would arise. Badmumof1 perhaps it is something your husband could consider?

Rolo_Tomasi

I think that this post (an many others on this forum) highlights that there is a need for some sort of 'tax education' to be taught in schools. Tax effects every one of us however most people leave school not knowing what a tax code means or having any concept about how the system works.

It is your own responsibility to check that your tax code is correct and if it is wrong, for whatever reason, then it is your net income that is effected. But how are you supposed to check your code if you have never been told what it means?

Barneysmom

I think I will ask for a van next time I have to replace the car, it sounds like I'd be better off....
Thank you everyone for your help, the lady at the tax office said she'd help me get it all sorted out, I just hope the repayments aren't too high as we'll be crippled enouigh as it is with a drop in income like that.....Ho hum, I'll see it as another bill and get it cleared asap...

My boss did inform HMRC, he sent the P11D off to them with it all on, it looks like someone there hasn't been looking.....
They are the ones who should be getting it right.

I dunno, it's just one of those things I guess.
Now I know I will always be vigilant, I never ever had anything like this in my last job where I worked for 13 years....mind you I never had a blummin car then.
Working it out I would be just as well off working in a supermarket with no car at all....why did I bother to do all those years of engineering training...

Oh I forgot to say, my children are grown and flown, Barney is my dog's name

donquine

Barneysmom wrote: »

I think I will ask for a van next time I have to replace the car, it sounds like I'd be better off....

If you get the choice, a van is better than a car. Petrol is better than diesel. Re cars only, the lower the carbon emissions and list price, the better.

Barneysmom wrote: »

why did I bother to do all those years of engineering training...

So you could afford a better life for Barney!

Barneysmom wrote: »

Oh I forgot to say, my children are grown and flown, Barney is my dog's name

That's brilliant, I assumed he was your son. You remind me of FIL - I'm not saying he doesn't love my OH, far from it, but he loves the dog just as much. He was fine with my OH moving away with me, but if the dog ever wanted out, I don't know what he'd do!

roger196

If you do not want a company car for private purposes ( and hence a taxable benefit which is a lot less than paying for a car yourself), why not use a pool car. These do not give rise to a taxable benefit. See "pool car" on www.hmrc.gov.uk for the various conditions for a car to qualify as a pool car. Remember that home to office is always a private trip. Another way round is to provide a car yourself and charge the employer an amount per mile. Again there are levels of mileage allowance which do not give rise to a taxable benefit ( see hmrc website "mileage allowance")

Tarasam

Barneysmom wrote: »

My boss did inform HMRC, he sent the P11D off to them with it all on, it looks like someone there hasn't been looking.....
They are the ones who should be getting it right.

HMRC will tell you its your responsibility to check your tax code and IT IS. You knew you had a car, you knew you would have to pay more tax because of the car but yet your code was still 400L (I cant see it as i write this response) but it was never questioned by you until its all gone wrong.

Amanita_2

kellyshay wrote: »

I've tried to help, if you dont want to do anything about this then thats up to you.

.

The way I read it she has contacted the tax office and it IS being sorted?

Barneysmom wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your help, the lady at the tax office said she'd help me get it all sorted out,

snip

My boss did inform HMRC, he sent the P11D off to them with it all on, it looks like someone there hasn't been looking.....
They are the ones who should be getting it right.

Tarasam

Amanita wrote: »

The way I read it she has contacted the tax office and it IS being sorted?

Have now re-visited the original post and corrected mine.

TM1976

Car BIK rules have changed quite a few times over the last few years and they used to be related to the amount of business use you had on your car (arguably this was farer). Given this I think it's unfair to expect a layman to be able to calculate the BIK on their company car, in fact Barneysmom is ahead of a lot of people by understanding the effect of a tax code change on her monthly wage.

It's pretty difficult when your are budgeting for your expenditure to work out the effect of this change especially when you have no idea when it's actually going to take effect.

On the advice here: Don't get a van as the days when you could get a £100 a year BIK for a van are gone. If you use a pool car it'll most like still be deemed a company car and you'll still pay the tax.