Self Employed , What Vehicle to get ?

North_Star_2

1st time poster here ,

I am Self Employed and have been looking into purchasing a 4x4 Pickup Truck something like a Toyota Hi Lux on a lease hire but I do not really understand what I can claim back via VAT and TAX on the payments I make on this vehicle should I get it , the lease payment plan is £313+VAT now obviously I can claim all the VAT back on the monthly payments but what % TAX can I claim and how is it done ?

I currently own a 57 Reg diesel car costing £243 per month but its only 3 door and with a baby on the way I would prefer something bigger,safer and cost effective , yet I cannot claim anything for my car as it is a Non-Commercial vehicle.

Any readers who already put a commercial vehicle through their books would be welcome advisors on how best to utilise the benefits available and if a leasing website could be recommended that they have used themselves ,

many thanks

Radsteral

i remember i was told i could claim the whole cost of lease back- how it hapened i dont know as accountant did it.

though like you, i bought the pick up as the only way to serve job and family-- i know its not totally legal, but if they came after me asking for pleasure purposes i had a motorbike that i could say it serves me as such

thing is , double cab pick up was never big enough for my job , so i ended up selling it after 1 year and got a large van and a small car

taffy056

You can claim back all your lease back via your tax return at the end of the year, but if you use it for personal use I think you got to take some of the lease back to cover this, if you use an accountant they will tell you what you can do.

Paul_the_Painter

I believe the easiest way to handle it is to have the full cost put through the books, but you pay mileage to use the car privately - on the marginal cost basis - so just fuel and serviceing costs. As an example my dads company used a figure of around 10p/mile for private use of the comapny car that included a fuel card.

North_Star_2

Thanks for the replies fellas brilliant info , my intentions for the pickup is to use it basically to drive to work carry some tools (not as a workhorse just because it wont make as much a mess as a car boot gets) , drive home again and take advantage of the ability when needed to move more things ie: household waste , luggage etc when required , it in no way would be used as part of my job its simply to replace my car with something that can be used to bend the rules legally to benefit the job i do , it would spend all day parked in my hgv yard until i returned to go home. I would use the same fuel card i use to fill my hgv up which i pay for myself anyway so i wouldnt need to get seperate fuel reciepts as its all recorded on the card and monthly invoice. I know a lot of people may say "why get something so big if its size is not to make work easier" my answer can only be that its to ease the financial outgoings on myself as many of my colleagues do the same plus insurance and road tax is cheaper and the act the pickups especially the Toyota Hi Lux 3.0d looks great.

I will speak with my accountant nearer the time and get his advice on the matter but i think its 90% certain I will get one

Thanks again and any more advice is more than welcome