Tax Free Bikes.

dotcouk

The Cycle to Work government scheme has been around for some time, but is never promoted as much as it could be.

Their is an overview about how it works here.

Also links to all the facilitators that are part of the scheme.

Basically this is how it works:

• You need a bike to commute to work (or at least you say that you do).
• Your empoyer and you join the scheme.
• Your empoyer hires out a bike that you choose - the money you pay is taken from your salary each month.
• The money you pay out does not get taxed or NI paid.
• At the end of a set period you buy the bike for a small fee (say £50).
• You now own a bike having paid as little as 50% the original cost.

Has anyone used this scheme? Was it successful? Any pitfalls?

gavsmillie

Excellent find however unfortunatly a lot of people I know nowadays have to commute for about an hour on average in a car therefore by bike would be a long ride although on the positive you would be pretty fit !!!!

This is a good scheme if you are local to your work (10 miles or less) however being little publicised as you mention shows that the government are not really that bothered (except around every four years funnily enough ).

Wouldn't it be great if they had free commuter buses or reduced train fares for workers who commuted by train !!!! Would the cost to the government reduce the amount of CO2 costs, road wear (less repairs to roads), less accidents due to less cars on roads, less lost work hours thru congestion and traffic jams to make it all worthwhile ?

Then of course this would mean less fuel bought by us car users hence less tax paid to the government and less profits for the fuel companies !!!

Hmmmm I wonder where the governments real concerns lies ..............:think:

dolly_day_dream

To be fair when my daughter bought her yearly bus season ticket (uni ticket Canterbury) it had been reduced from £200 to £100:j This was only for the first two weeks of term but somebody was subsidising this - I don't know if it was the gov, the uni, or the bus company but it was much appreciated by a car - less family. She gets to use all of stagecoach buses in the whole of Kent between September and June.

Ken68

Hi Dot.,....sounds like a racket to me. Why buy a new bike, why route the tax allowance thru your employer.
Why not use an existing bike, apply for the scheme, get a re-coding from the tax office, the employer is nowt to do with it.

ailuro2

Our cycle to work scheme by my employers was done through Halfords vouchers, chose a bike,ordered the vouchers to pay for it, then same amount taken weekly form wages, tax free, for a number of weeks,thereby saving the tax on a bike purchase.

I already had a bike so didn' use it, but some people did.

dotcouk

I would like to know more about what ken68 says - so you could use your current bike and get a new tax code - how does that work? How much tax could I save?

BoltonMinx

Id love to get on this but our HR department refused my request, so Im going to have to shell out for one on my own I think

banthecar

I work for HM Revenue and Customs and despite them running this scheme they dont operate it for their own employees!
I have hassled them about it on numerous occasions over the last couple of years with no response, so it might be time to embaress them in the national press - what do you think?
I cycle commute - a round trip of 22 miles each day. It keeps me fit, costs me next to nothing and means i dont have to pay for a gym membership. Plus zero emissions - you cant beat it
I can honestly say cycling is the most enjoyable part of my day.
If they do start the scheme for us i'm going to buy a Brompton folding bike - a British design classic. But they have a huge waiting list for them at the moment.

stefejb

I work for the Civil Service and they offer a loan for a bike. Its up to £500 for the bike and any accesories and safety gear you need. The loan is interest free and payable over 12 months from salary. I don't know if it comes out before or after tax though. i live about three miles from work and because of traffic am much faster than a bus or car.
Banthecar do they not have the same scheme in your department?

stef

bjornfree

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/cycling/cycletoworkschemeimplementat5732http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/cycling/cycletoworkschemeimplementat5732

just found out about this scheme! I'm trying to interest my work's HR in it to see if I could go for it-One thing I like is that Ebikes are eligible for inclusion in the scheme-quite good Ebikes available for ~£500-they do mention the scheme is a LOAN arrangement-the company CAN sell the bike after the term expires,at a fair price,but not necessarily to You-otherwise it'd be a HP deal,opening another can of tax worms...