car benefit help please

lxpeanut

I have an ongoing problem with my car benefit. I do not believe the car benefit is correct as the amount of this benefit is inconsistent with the changes in vehicle. The history of the car benefit is as follows:

• 2005-06 I had the use of a lease car (a Toyota Prius which I made contributions towards) from January 2006 the benefit for this year is quoted as £294 on the p800.
• 2006-07 I retained the Toyota Prius for the whole year my car benefit is quoted as £1279 on the p800
• 2007-08 I retained the Toyota Prius for the whole year my benefits are quoted as £1296 but do not know if that is just car benefit or if other benefits have been included by mistake
• 2008-09 I retained the Toyota Prius for the whole year my car benefit is quoted as £388 on the p800
• 2009-10 I retained the Toyota Prius until December when it was swapped for a Vauxhall Astra I do not know the car benefit for that year but this is the only year when it should have changed.
• 2010-11 I retained the Vauxhall Astra (which I make a £10 contribution towards added extras) my car benefit was originally calculated as £2053 until November 2010 when it was changed to £2552.
• 2011-12 I have the Vauxhall Astra my car benefit has been calculated at £2552
• 2012-13 I will still have the Vauxhall Astra and my car benefit has been calculated as £3371

I do not believe there should be any difference between the 2008-09 car benefit and the 2006-07 or 2007-08 benefit. It is also unclear why my car benefit changed part way through 2010-11 and why there is such a difference between 2011-12 and 2012-13.

I have written to the tax office and their reply just said they have gone on what my employer provided. How can I check what it was supposed to be?

getmore4less

As HMRC have told you, check with the employer it's their responsibility.

grant27

lxpeanut - there are 4 items of info you need to know to calculate your company car benefit for each year.

P11D value of car
How long you actually had use of it - to the day!
CO2 emissions figure
Personal contributions - either 1 off, or monthly.

The CO2 emissions figure sets the % tax band of the vehicle, and has been revised yearly by successive HMRC/Governments.

The calc runs like this

P11D value of car x tax band based on CO2 emissions x 20 or 40% tax rate = value you should pay.

It gets quite complex if you also have a personal contribution, because you have already paid tax on it through PAYE and thus it is deductible on the car benefit. There are also rules about what can be claimed and what can't.

If you don't have use of the car for the entire year, the costs are pro-rata for the number of days from 6th April to 5th April you actually have it for. If you change a car mid-year, the costs vary on the number of days as well.

My guess is that the big swings in cost are to do with the CO2 emissions being rebanded and thus the car % getting more expensive.

I know this is happening in 2012/2013, as my company Astra has gone up from band 13% to 17% for co2 emissions of 119g/km. Thus my tax code has changed from 517l to 480l and the benefit has jumped from £2302 to £3296.

have a look here to calculate the benefit back to 2006/2007
http : / / cccfcalculator . hmrc . gov . uk / ccf0 . aspx (sorry about the link, but it won't let me post it as Im too new)