Which figures should be on my P11D?

agent69

For many years I have possessed a company fuel card that allowed me free fuel for private use. Each year I provided a breakdown of my mileage (split between business and private) to my employer and they would issue a P11D that reflected the value of fuel that I had used for private use (typically £500 per year).


During the last financial year our parent company took over many of our admin functions, including issuing the P11D. Having waited until December to receive the P11D it now states the total value of fuel used in the year (private and busineees combined). I have queried this and been told that this is the correct format for the P11D, and I need to liaise with the tax man to sort out how much of the P11D figure is private milage and how much bussiness.


I always thought the P11D was a statement of benefits received (which it currently isn't). Does anyone know what the correct procedure is when an employer completes the form?

Dazed_and_confused

I have queried this and been told that this is the correct format for the P11D, and I need to liaise with the tax man to sort out how much of the P11D figure is private milage and how much bussiness.

Good luck with that. There are occasional posts on here from people who believe their P11D's are wrong and the response from HMRC is always that the employer needs to file a revised P11D to correct any mistakes.

This is actually in the employers best interest as they may have an additional National insurance bill to pay from any P11D benefit and that would also be corrected by filing a corrected P11D.

It might be worth you having a look at HMRC booklet 490 (should be available to read on gov.uk)

agent69

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

Good luck with that. There are occasional posts on here from people who believe their P11D's are wrong and the response from HMRC is always that the employer needs to file a revised P11D to correct any mistakes.

This is actually in the employers best interest as they may have an additional National insurance bill to pay from any P11D benefit and that would also be corrected by filing a corrected P11D.

It might be worth you having a look at HMRC booklet 490 (should be available to read on gov.uk)

Thanks for the advice.


I see that booklet 490 is only 73 pages long, so it will make interesting bedtime reading

TheCyclingProgrammer

I agree with your employers. As the fuel card is available for you to use at any time for any journey the full value of any fuel should be recorded on your P11D as this is the gross value of the benefit being provided to you - they shouldn’t be netting off the cost of any business journeys.

You should make a separate claim for business mileage for any business journeys made in the tax year using standard mileage rates. This will then reduce the amount you will pay tax on.

Example, if you’ve spent £1000 on fuel this is reported on your P11D. If you’ve done 500 miles for allowable business journeys, at 45p a mile, this will reduce your taxable benefit by £225 and you will be taxed on the remaining £775.

If you want to avoid this in future you may be better off asking your employer if they can simply reimburse you for any actual business travel costs - either AMAPs for mileage or actual costs of any other travel or subsistence for business trips - these will be treated as as exempt and won’t need reporting on your P11D.

MDMD

The old employer was preparing your p11D forms incorrectly. The private use split is irrelevant unless you reimburse the cost of all the private fuel and there is no relationship between the BIK and the cost of the fuel*

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim25525

The BIK on fuel is a standard amount on which a percentage based on the Car is applied. The three cases when it is proportionally reduced are:

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim25560

- If the car is unavailable and you can’t use the fuel card

- if the fuel is permanently removed

- the car is shared.

None would apply here, you should have been taxed on the full amount.

*The only place I can think where any apportionment would apply is where there is fuel but no car at all when a bespoke method of determining the BIK is needed, probably based on actual cost.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Whilst it’s true that the whole amount is taxable as per above (which is what I was getting at in my post) OP should still be able to claim mileage rates for any business miles done which should reduce their overall tax bill.

unholyangel

MDMD wrote: »

The old employer was preparing your p11D forms incorrectly. The private use split is irrelevant unless you reimburse the cost of all the private fuel and there is no relationship between the BIK and the cost of the fuel*

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim25525

The BIK on fuel is a standard amount on which a percentage based on the Car is applied. The three cases when it is proportionally reduced are:

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim25560

- If the car is unavailable and you can’t use the fuel card

- if the fuel is permanently removed

- the car is shared.

None would apply here, you should have been taxed on the full amount.

*The only place I can think where any apportionment would apply is where there is fuel but no car at all when a bespoke method of determining the BIK is needed, probably based on actual cost.

Thats the calculation for fuel provided for a company vehicle.

s149 of ITEPA

149Benefit of car fuel treated as earnings
(1)If in a tax year—
(a)fuel is provided for a car by reason of an employee’s employment, and
(b)that person is chargeable to tax in respect of the car by virtue of section 120,
the cash equivalent of the benefit of the fuel is to be treated as earnings from the employment for that year.

(2)The cash equivalent of the benefit of the fuel is calculated in accordance with sections 150 to 153.

s150 to s153 then go on to use the calculation you're suggesting.

s120 is "Benefit of car treated as earnings"

If its a privately owned vehicle then the total spend on the fuel card should be reported as thecyclingprogrammer suggested. I believe it's structured that way to prevent double recovery (OP not ever paying out for business fuel but getting relief on it if they claim for their business miles) while ensure they can still get relief on the maintainence/wear & tear aspect.

agent69

Sorry, I should have said that it is a private car that I use for business.