Vehicle use charges

mike_L

Thanks again.

I've done a bit of research and commuting to and from work 'is not' personal use. In fact the HMR&C website and accounting firms call this 'private use' but it means the same.

All this said it's maybe irrelevant whether it's technically personel/private use or not. The point is whether or not the company is entitled to charge all maintenace personel to commute to and from work or not and they may well be entitled to do so.

It's just that the company are using the 'personal use' angle to justify the charge infering that the taxman would regard it as personal/private use.

skintandscared_2

LilacPixie wrote: »

I would imagine the company are coming from the 'angle' they are effectively allowing you to use their vans ad fuel for your work commute. I would imagine your commute to work is personal use.

If you have incidental use of a company van IE driving it between home and work will not involve a benefit in kind charge but your employer could still class it as personal use AFAIK

No, a commute is not personal use. HMRC have specified it isn't.

skintandscared_2

LilacPixie wrote: »

Sorry you are wrong. The HMRC clearly state if the only Personal use is commuting then BIK is not charged they don't say commuting is not personal use

We will have to agree to disagree then, I don't believe I am wrong.

LilacPixie

skintandscared wrote: »

No, a commute is not personal use. HMRC have specified it isn't.

When is there a tax charge on a
company van?

Employees pay tax on a company van if they or a member of
their family or household make private use of it. If the
employee has the van mainly for work journeys (for example,
delivering goods or making calls to customers), and the only

private use is commuting, there is no tax to pay.

please tell me where HMRC have specified commuting is not private use?? It seems pretty clear to me from the above that they consider the commute to be private use but as it is what they class as 'incidental' there is o tax to pay.

mike_L

k3lvc wrote: »

For clarity please where is the place of work they want to charge you from/to ?

If you have a PDA and are effectively home based then that is your place of work (i.e. zero commute/zero charge) - all client/call travel is just that ?

We are not home based, previously all technicians would call into HQ each day to collect/return paperwork but paperwork no longer exists it's all done via a PDA hence there is no reason to visit HQ except when requested for some other reason.

We work all over London and have some freedom to select any morning/afternoon job to attend first but our place of work is ???? anywhere required.

skintandscared_2

LilacPixie wrote: »

please tell me where HMRC have specified commuting is not private use?? It seems pretty clear to me from the above that they consider the commute to be private use but as it is what they class as 'incidental' there is o tax to pay.
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By specifying that such use is not taxable and therefore does not fall under the remit of personal use. There are also many template "acceptable use policies" easily searchable which mainly state as an acceptable precedent that work vehicles used for business use only will include travel to and from work but I need to get to bed and haven't time to start linking. I'm going to check LexisNexis in the morning and see if I can find something more definitive. I am never arrogant enough to assume I am always right but I honestly do believe, in this instance, that use of a company van full of work tools is NOT being used for personal or private use when just travelling to and from a workplace. I'll be back tomorrow Night peeps

LilacPixie

skintandscared wrote: »

We will have to agree to disagree then, I don't believe I am wrong.

Well unless they slipped something under the radar since i've been on maternity leave then I think you are I'm an Accountant

OP when you became effectively a feild worker were your terms of employment changed?? if so to what and if not what does your employment contract say about these charges??

We do payroll for some companies that do 'charge' this but AFAIK they have to attend the office each day to collect jobs and materials. I think this will come down to what the terms of your employment state.

k3lvc

mike_L wrote: »

We are not home based, previously all technicians would call into HQ each day to collect/return paperwork but paperwork no longer exists it's all done via a PDA hence there is no reason to visit HQ except when requested for some other reason.

We work all over London and have some freedom to select any morning/afternoon job to attend first but our place of work is ???? anywhere required.

So what exactly are you having to pay then ? If all your travel is home-1st job then last job-home with no daily trips to the office then surely you've no financial exposure.

Unless I'm wrong you can't be based at a location that you rarely visit.

mike_L

LilacPixie wrote: »

please tell me where HMRC have specified commuting is not private use?? It seems pretty clear to me from the above that they consider the commute to be private use but as it is what they class as 'incidental' there is o tax to pay.
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Thanks Lilac but HMR&C do state in various documents that commuting is not private use, here's one.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vans/employee-guidance.htm

Further the company I work for is big and does things by the book, if we were liable to pay tax on the vans for personal/private use then be sure that we would have signed all the relevant papers by now which I have done previously with those companies where personal use was allowed.

mike_L

k3lvc wrote: »

So what exactly are you having to pay then ? If all your travel is home-1st job then last job-home with no daily trips to the office then surely you've no financial exposure.

Unless I'm wrong you can't be based at a location that you rarely visit.

I wouldn't want to argue this one too much but I think all employees would regard the HQ as being 'technically' their place of work even though some technicians can go weeks without ever seeing the place!