Hospital parking charges and "benefit in kind"

WilliamS2018

My father in law claims that hospital parking charges are good value because free parking incurs a tax as being "benefit in kind." 

Explain to me like I'm 5 whether or not any of this makes sense or is true please.

Car_54

Free parking at your place of work is obviously a benefit, and I can recall a proposal that it should be taxed (about 30 years ago). However, it never happened.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

WilliamS2018 said:

My father in law claims that hospital parking charges are good value because free parking incurs a tax as being "benefit in kind." 

Explain to me like I'm 5 whether or not any of this makes sense or is true please.

If a tax charge did exist it would be the exact opposite of what your FIL is thinking.

In simple terms if say a £300 monthly permit was provided by an employer then the individual would be taxed on £300.  So most people would pay extra tax of £60-£120.  Some may have a little extra HICBC to pay or it might impact a tax credits or UC award.

Or they could turn down the employer provided permit and buy one themselves.  For £300.

facade

[Deleted User] said:

Free parking at your place of work is obviously a benefit, and I can recall a proposal that it should be taxed (about 30 years ago). However, it never happened.

It wasn't quite that long ago, more like 10. The local councils were going to be allowed to charge people a workplace parking levy- I have an idea that this is a thing in Londinium but the employer pays it (and passes it on to the employee no doubt). 

I recall the parking places at work suddenly sprouted numbers and we were supposed to apply for one rather than park anywhere. The stated reason was so that in the event of say a meteorite strike they could identify who to contact about the smouldering crater where their car used to be, which was obviously a lie, they wanted to be sure they could pass the information to The Council so we could be charged. The wise never applied and just continued to park anywhere. Luckily it went away.

Hospital parking charges are just another tax on the sick, it should be free if you have an outpatients appointment.

EDIT: if you type "workplace parking levy" into google, it appears that this is A Thing in

Scotland, and places like Nottingham

Grumpy_chap

facade said:

I recall the parking places at work suddenly sprouted numbers and we were supposed to apply for one rather than park anywhere. The stated reason was so that in the event of say a meteorite strike they could identify who to contact about the smouldering crater where their car used to be,

It would be great if all employers were so thoughtful and caring for their staff

Car_54

facade said:

[Deleted User] said:

Free parking at your place of work is obviously a benefit, and I can recall a proposal that it should be taxed (about 30 years ago). However, it never happened.

It wasn't quite that long ago, more like 10. The local councils were going to be allowed to charge people a workplace parking levy- I have an idea that this is a thing in Londinium but the employer pays it (and passes it on to the employee no doubt). 

I recall the parking places at work suddenly sprouted numbers and we were supposed to apply for one rather than park anywhere. The stated reason was so that in the event of say a meteorite strike they could identify who to contact about the smouldering crater where their car used to be, which was obviously a lie, they wanted to be sure they could pass the information to The Council so we could be charged. The wise never applied and just continued to park anywhere. Luckily it went away.

Hospital parking charges are just another tax on the sick, it should be free if you have an outpatients appointment.

EDIT: if you type "workplace parking levy" into google, it appears that this is A Thing in

Scotland, and places like Nottingham

It was certainly proposed 30+ years ago, but like most whacky ideas it comes back from time to time.

WilliamS2018

So to summarise, there is no basis in his belief? The belief being "car parking charges at hospitals for employees are value for money as the alternative is a punishing tax in the form of benefit in kind"?

Aretnap

WilliamS2018 said:

So to summarise, there is no basis in his belief? The belief being "car parking charges at hospitals for employees are value for money as the alternative is a punishing tax in the form of benefit in kind"?

Indeed, it has no basis in fact because (1) free workplace parking is not (currently) treated as a taxable benefit and (2) even if it was, the tax on a benefit in kind of hardly "punishing"; the employee would only have to pay a proportion of the cost of providing the benefit (20-45% depending on tax band), as opposed to the full cost if they paid for it themselves.

DullGreyGuy

Aretnap said:

WilliamS2018 said:

So to summarise, there is no basis in his belief? The belief being "car parking charges at hospitals for employees are value for money as the alternative is a punishing tax in the form of benefit in kind"?

Indeed, it has no basis in fact because (1) free workplace parking is not (currently) treated as a taxable benefit and (2) even if it was, the tax on a benefit in kind of hardly "punishing"; the employee would only have to pay a proportion of the cost of providing the benefit (20-45% depending on tax band), as opposed to the full cost if they paid for it themselves.

A free workplace isnt taxable when you are talking about a works car park, ie its exclusively for employees.

Is the case still the same when we are talking about enabling employees to park in a public carpark that is fee incurring and either having their registration excluded from ticketing, having a permit to display or some way of the machine issuing a ticket at no expense to the employee? There is a definitive benefit with a real value in these cases -v- a staff carpark which is a rather arbitrary application of a value

Herzlos

What does he mean by parking charges? The cost to actually park, or the dodgy invoices if you violate a fictional rule?

Assuming the former, then it'd only be a BIK if the staff were given a free pass, where they'd be taxed as if they'd been paid the money to buy the pass.

For free parking, there's no BIK because the value is £0. Free parking helps everyone using a hospital out and there's no real justification for paid for hospital parking beyond the relatively small revenue they produce but I honestly don't think they are worth the misery inflicted on everyone else.

Hospital parking up in Scotland is free, with the exception of a few hospitals where the parking charging was part of the construction contract before the charges were banned.

Car_54

The justification for charging, where a hospital is near a town centre, is that free parking spaces are filled by shoppers and commuters rather than the patients and visitors for whom they are entitled.