Backdating BIK on company vehicle

Benread

Hi,

I have just received a tax bill from the hmrc for £3.5K due to underpayment relating to benefit in kind on a company vehicle.

My problem is that my company never made me aware of this. We use VW Transporters and had previously used the option where employees are allowed to use the vehicles for personal use and would pay back the personal mileage on a fixed per mile cost, this was always classed as insignificant useage and therefore no BIK was declared.

The company has now decided that for this financial year they are going to declare the vehicles usage differently and that we would now be subject to BIK. This is understandable but the company has now reported this usage for the last financial year 17/18 as well, resulting in me receiving the bill from the hmrc.

To add further complication for half the year I had the kombi version which due to its seats carries a much higher BIK.

My questions is:
As I was not told about the changes to the way it was going to be reported until after the financial year had ended and was therefore unable to make decisions about what vehicle I drove (I would not have had the Kombi!). Do I have any rights to claim that this has not been done in good faith to the hmrc and appeal for them to collect the tax due from my employer as well.

Frustratingly I have just left the company yesterday and therefore they are not very willing to help me out with this matter.

Any help any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Ben

roger_c

The first port of call would be the employer who provided the vehicle to you, however, you've already advised they are not being helpful.

I would suggest that you write to HMRC to try and explain the situation. I'm not saying the tax bill will disappear, but it would be worth a discussing your position with them. The tax bill can't go up any further!

Do you have a copy of the employee vehicle usage policy and does it restrict private use, was a mileage log kept of all mileage in the vehicle, etc, these are all questions HMRC may ask you and they may ask you to provide further information.

It seems unusual that your employer didn't provide further information to you when the initially provided the vehicle.

Hope you get it all sorted out!

00ec25

Benread wrote: »

Hi,

I have just received a tax bill from the hmrc for £3.5K due to underpayment relating to benefit in kind on a company vehicle.

My problem is that my company never made me aware of this. We use VW Transporters and had previously used the option where employees are allowed to use the vehicles for personal use and would pay back the personal mileage on a fixed per mile cost, this was always classed as insignificant useage and therefore no BIK was declared.

The company has now decided that for this financial year they are going to declare the vehicles usage differently and that we would now be subject to BIK. This is understandable but the company has now reported this usage for the last financial year 17/18 as well, resulting in me receiving the bill from the hmrc.

To add further complication for half the year I had the kombi version which due to its seats carries a much higher BIK.

My questions is:
As I was not told about the changes to the way it was going to be reported until after the financial year had ended and was therefore unable to make decisions about what vehicle I drove (I would not have had the Kombi!). Do I have any rights to claim that this has not been done in good faith to the hmrc and appeal for them to collect the tax due from my employer as well.

Frustratingly I have just left the company yesterday and therefore they are not very willing to help me out with this matter.

Any help any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Ben

many people have been caught by this because the law has been clarified following a case that specifically involved the reaffirmation that a kombi is a car, not a van.

The case finally reached decision point back in Aug 2017 and has resulted in backdating.

Your employer is not to blame for not telling you about something that had not happened at that point. Underlyuing the legal case is the "what would the man in the street say" and the view was a lot of them would say you drove a car, not a van - afterall that is partly why you chose it instead of a Transit for example.... you didn't want a van on the driveway?