Benefit in kind on van use and self assessment

how_do_i?

I will try and keep it simple!

Bought a new van for our VAT registered limited company for which my wife and I are sole directors. Not employees and no other employees.

We complete SA annually for a SA partnership 60/40 (un related business (Not VAT registered) which has its own vehicle.

We also declare property and investment income annually (again not part of either of the above (50/50).

I also draw a small pension.

As the new van is really usable as a car we are thinking of getting rid of our car and just using the van for personal use as well as the LTDCo.

As I understand it we pay a flat fee for BIC on Van and a flat fee for BIC on Fuel.

where does this fit with SA?
do we split the flat fee(s) 50/50 as it would be shared use?
Is the fuel use really unlimited and the LTd company foots the bill?

TIA

DullGreyGuy

You'll produce a P11D for each of you for the BIK of using the company vehicle. When doing the SA102 section of your Self Assessment you put it in box 9 which is cunningly called "Company cars and vans".

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/benefit-charge-on-company-vans-available-for-private-use-480-chapter-14 covers shared personal use of a company vehicle but effectively its shared proportionally to your use.

how_do_i?

DullGreyGuy said:

You'll produce a P11D for each of you for the BIK of using the company vehicle. When doing the SA102 section of your Self Assessment you put it in box 9 which is cunningly called "Company cars and vans".

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/benefit-charge-on-company-vans-available-for-private-use-480-chapter-14 covers shared personal use of a company vehicle but effectively its shared proportionally to your use.

Thanks @DullGreyGuy for pointing me in the right direction.

I find HMRC language so problematic and not "self Assessment" friendly to the non professional (I wouldn't expect a non professional to understand my work reports and use appropriate language that the end user can understand!).

So...... as if we both use the van owned by the company we are both directors for.  Sometimes this use would be "concurrent" and sometimes independently. Would it be considered "just and reasonable" to split the BIK for use and fuel 50/50? is this correct?

Also is fuel use paid for by the company and used for private use really unlimited as covered by the BIK flat fee for fuel?

TIA 

DullGreyGuy

Whilst I mainly work in the insurance industry I work across the full spectrum of what that can be and across different legal jurisdictions and so having to deal with peculiar language or different ways to say the same thing etc is all part of the job.

If you benefit from the use equally then yes 50/50 would be appropriate... if you use it more than her then maybe 60/40 is depending on how slanted it is towards you. 

Not an expert in company van tax but certainly my understanding is if the company does give the employee free fuel for personal use then its a flat rate tax applied irrespective of quantity. On the flipside, it could be questioned as to why any reasonable director would make such offers to employees given their duty to the company however as you are presumably also the shareholders who's going to hold the directors to account?

how_do_i?

DullGreyGuy said:

Whilst I mainly work in the insurance industry I work across the full spectrum of what that can be and across different legal jurisdictions and so having to deal with peculiar language or different ways to say the same thing etc is all part of the job.

If you benefit from the use equally then yes 50/50 would be appropriate... if you use it more than her then maybe 60/40 is depending on how slanted it is towards you. 

Not an expert in company van tax but certainly my understanding is if the company does give the employee free fuel for personal use then its a flat rate tax applied irrespective of quantity. On the flipside, it could be questioned as to why any reasonable director would make such offers to employees given their duty to the company however as you are presumably also the shareholders who's going to hold the directors to account?

Thanks again.

This is pretty much what I was thinking. Just seems a bit too good to be true.  But then ours is a more unique situation than a larger company and we would be benefiting from the "one size fits all" flat fee.