Hit Hard By The New 4x4 Car Tax!!!

rdwarr

By the way, tax has nothing to do with whether your vehicle is 2WD or 4WD; it's all down to other factors.

natanddan1

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

Well, I phoned my local tax office and the man I spoke to agrees that under current tax rules we are not liable for car tax, the vehicle we have just now is or rather should be classed as a van.BUT!!!He said, and I will check this out further, not going to take just one persons word on it,that from this April company VAN benefit is rocketing up from £500 to £3000 in line with company car tax anyway!!!
Aparantly to catch all those employers who buy vehicle types based on their tax rating thus trying to avoid tax.Well thats just good sense in my book, not tax avoidance!Anyway,its not the companies who pay it, its the employees!
Well now it looks like everyone driving a works van will be taxed on an extra £3500 of their income per year from April 2007.
I think we are just going to try to get the best vehicle we can out of hubbys employer now.One that we can actually use as a family car too if we are going to have to pay for it.

Can you claim any back tax for the car/van you have been paying tax on???

shelovestobuystuff

We have only been paying the lower tax so far,its in April when the much higher rate is due to start that I have been worrying about.
I have still to find out about the place of work rule though which you highlighted earlier.All I have found out about that is that your employer has to agree that you dont have a permanent place or base of work,unlikely that they will agree to accept the tax burden though.It is also incredibly difficult to prove that a vehicle is not suitable for or not used for private use, the employer has to agree with this too.I will keep on with this and try to find a solution to suit, even if it is just getting a better vehicle which we can actually use for our private use too.At least then I would see the benefit of paying the company car tax.
I have heard that some companies are not going to be passing on the cost of the newly classified car tax to their employees.I really cannot see BT or British Gas making their employees pay for the benefit of having their vans parked outside their homes overnight.

Altarf

What is happening is that in April the rules are changing to increase the 'benefit in kind' charge for having a company van from £500 to £3000, plus an additional £500 if fuel is provided. The £3000 is not tax, but is the value that is put on the taxable benefit. A standard rate taxpayer will pay £700 a year more.

Why is it being done. The answer is all those double cab pickups that are everywhere and never go near a building site. Companies have been giving them to their employees instead of cars as they only had a £500 benefit in kind value, rather than the normal company car charge. So people who previously had a Mondeo or Vectra now had a Nissan Getoutofmyway.

So those people who actually did need one are now being penalised because of those who didn't and were just using them as a tax break.

The tax charge only applies if you are allowed to use the vehicle for private use (which does not include the normal commute to work). If you are not allowed to use the vehicle privately and this is stated in the contract of employment then their should be no tax charge.

tomstickland

Maybe all the environmental stuff + "fairness" blather is a way of diverting attention from a tax rise?

top_banana

Yup
I have a citroen berlingo small van for work and will be hit with the increase in tax in April. I will be hit for the full taxable rate on £3500 :mad:
For 'benefit in kind'
What benefit is taking a van home. Can I get the family in it ....No
Can I fit in most of the multi storey car parks ..... No
Will the local rubbush tip allow me to throw away my household rubbish .... No!
But hey lets increase the existing tax 7 fold, and proberly more on wednesday.


Well all I can say is that I will make sure I will get my extra £50 or so a months worth out of it and try to enjoy it well hey, I am paying for it

shelovestobuystuff

top_banana wrote: »

Yup
I have a citroen berlingo small van for work and will be hit with the increase in tax in April. I will be hit for the full taxable rate on £3500 :mad:
For 'benefit in kind'
What benefit is taking a van home. Can I get the family in it ....No
Can I fit in most of the multi storey car parks ..... No
Will the local rubbush tip allow me to throw away my household rubbish .... No!
But hey lets increase the existing tax 7 fold, and proberly more on wednesday.


Well all I can say is that I will make sure I will get my extra £50 or so a months worth out of it and try to enjoy it well hey, I am paying for it

We will need to keep looking for a way round this, some sort of loophole or clause for people.Taxed on an extra £3500 for a berlingo!!!I do feel really sorry for you.All I can say right now is "NOT FAIR!!!NOT FAIR!!!NOT FAIR!!!(if I had'nt been sitting at my computer I would have stamped my feet too(wait a minute.....)
Did it,tantrum over!

Lakeuk

top_banana wrote: »

For 'benefit in kind'
What benefit is taking a van home.

Part of your journey home in the comany van is classed as a commuters journey which is a 'benefit in kind' - expensive benefit for you

Ems!

Can they actually make you take a van home?? surely not? If you really are just using it to travel to work then surely better for you to get a cheap runaround that you can also use at weekends etc, and save the tax! Tell them you will leave it on their premises overnight.

In OP's case sounds like there should be no tax on it anyway if it hasn't been used to commute to work ( as no perm work place), and also if no other pesonal use . I would stress this to HMRC if you speakto them again - not the increase but the fact ou beieve you should not have had a BIK to start with. In all honesty though if you have used it for the odd journey then there will be a BIK and it would be v difficult to prove otherwise.

Have a word with your payroll department about this too. Your co are paying national insurance contributions on this benefit too you know!

MarkyMarkD

I think that someone who doesn't have a car of their own will have NO chance of proving no personal use of a vehicle which they park outside their own house every night.

I'm confused by

Altarf wrote:

The tax charge only applies if you are allowed to use the vehicle for private use (which does not include the normal commute to work). If you are not allowed to use the vehicle privately and this is stated in the contract of employment then their should be no tax charge.

Driving to and from a permanent place of work, i.e. commuting, definitely IS personal use and therefore taxable. It is only in the circumstance where you don't have a permanent place of work that travel from home to work can possibly be considered business use.