Company fuel card tax?

MattB247

Hi

I'll make this as factual as possible to avoid any confusion!

I am a travelling rep and get a company vehicle to enable me to do my job.

I currently pay for all fuel on my personal credit card and then claim back my business mileage at the HMRC recommended rate (12p per mile for a sub-1600cc diesel in my case).

I don't claim for any personal mileage.

Because of variances in MPG due to traffic congestion etc my actual MPG means that sometimes I can't claim back the full amount I should, eg I filled up last week for £85 but due to driving in London a lot I only got 585 miles before the car was empty. 585 miles at 12p per mile = £70.20 being claimed ack, meaning I'm almost £15 out of pocket.

Some colleagues of mine have company fuel cards but pay the company back at the appropriate rate for personal mileage, ie in my case if I did 2000 business miles and 200 personal miles a month I'd document this and have 200x12p = £24 deducted from my wages.

I asked HMRC about the implications of having a fuel card but with no fuel benefit for me and, while the chap I spoke to seemed quite knowledgable, he honestly didn't know what the answer was and said that as far as he understood it if I got a fuel card I would be charged fuel benefit, but didn't know what would happen if I paid personal mileage back as my colleagues do.

My colleagues say that as far as they know they don't get charged tax but now I've asked they are calling HMRC to check.

Has anyone any knowledge of this, as my company is declining to pay any more than the recommended fuel rebate amount (even though HMRC clearly say it's not a fixed, maximum sum, merely a suggested amount) and I'm losing £10-£15 every time (personal mileage aside). A fuel card would fix this, but not if I get charged fuel benefit or any other tax implication, bearing in mind I'd pay my personal mileage back.

Any ideas?

Thanks and regards

Matt