Opting out of private use of company car

Savvysaver72

My partner has a company car, which he needs to do his job as a field service engineer. We don't use his car for personal use any longer as we have other vehicles.

He enquired with the tax office if he could declare no personal use to save on company car tax. they told him his employer needs to declare this to HMRC not him directly. His employer tells him there is no way to do this.

Has anyone else opted out of personal use of a company car before? Keen not to let this go because it could save near £200 per month!

Thanks

Keep_pedalling

I doubt if his company will want to get involved with the hassle of doing this so nothing he can do on this front. The money saving option is to ditch one of the private cars and actually make use of the company cars.

Savvysaver72

Why is it a hassle?
Nice idea, but his company car is an estate car, the others are a campervan and a sportscar ;-)

Savvysaver72

Yes that's fine. He's based from home so that's not an issue.

Savvysaver72

He goes to the office maybe 4 times a year. He could take a personal car.

The point is he has no choice but to have a company car, but we don't use it, but he's taxed through the nose for it. There must be a way round it?

Keep_pedalling

Savvysaver72 wrote: »

He goes to the office maybe 4 times a year. He could take a personal car.

The point is he has no choice but to have a company car, but we don't use it, but he's taxed through the nose for it. There must be a way round it?

So he never stops on the way home, to pick up some shopping or a take away? It is very difficult for a company to police the use of a vehicle if it is kept at an employees home, far simpler to allow personal use.

Savvysaver72

I get that. Just trying to understand whose decision it is. It's not the company who has to pay tax, and be liable for tax fraud if found using the car for personal use. I would have thought this would be the tax office's decision?

Keep_pedalling

Savvysaver72 wrote: »

I get that. Just trying to understand whose decision it is. It's not the company who has to pay tax, and be liable for tax fraud if found using the car for personal use. I would have thought this would be the tax office's decision?

No, it's the company who decide on what terms they provide a car, and the tax follows. When is his car up for renewal? It might be possible to do something then.

Dazed_and_confused

In all seriousness I would give up on this, as eggha has explained the key thing with company cars is that it is "available" for private use, whether it is actually used privately is immaterial.

Your hubbies employer has responsibilities regard reporting of stuff like company cars and if they got it wrong they could land up in serious financial trouble with the HMRC so i think it would be nigh on impossible for your hubby to persuade them to change what they report to the HMRC.

One option would be to swap the car for a cash payment in leui of the car which hubby could you to buy his own vehicle. This is increasingly common, often called a car allowance although in practice it is really just additional wages (possibly not relevant for company pension purposes).

Or, could he leave the car at his employers premises at the end of the day and get the bus/train home? That way it may be possible to persuade the employer that the car genuinely isn't "available" for private use.

Savvysaver72

His company don't offer car allowances. We live 200 miles from his office, so leaving there isn't possible. Just seems unfair when he doesn't use it fur personal use (he has the back seats full of spares and tools which each time we need to use it as a car he has to unload it all into the house). He actually wanted a van but they won't allow it.

MEM62

I am going to disagree with some of the comments made.

Yes, HMRC look at the submission made by the employer. However, there is nothing to say that, if a company car is offered, you have to accept it. Any company benefit can be refused.

The problem you have here is not the taxman, it is you OH's employer being unwilling to change their procedures to accommodate his requests. And there are ways to do it. For example, the terms of the vehicle provision can be amended to exclude personal use. I suggest that he pushes his employer further.