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April changes to company car tax

FROM April and the start of the new tax year, already announced company car tax changes will increase benefit in kind for many business car drivers and business directors. Meanwhile National Insurance rises will impact on the cost to SMEs of business-provided company cars. Editor of Business Car manager, Ralph Morton, files this special report.
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SME directors: expensive car cap disappears

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30 March 2011

SME company director faces big rise in benefit in kind tax for driving a company car with a list price in excess of £80,000
SME directors: expensive car cap disappears

FROM April and the start of the new tax year, already announced company car tax changes will increase benefit in kind for many business car drivers and business directors. Meanwhile National Insurance rises will impact on the cost to SMEs of business-provided company cars. Editor of Business Car Manager, Ralph Morton, files this special report.

 

A NEW tax year begins in April, and with it there will be changes to the company car tax that many business car drivers will pay.

None of these changes is new – all have been announced in previous Budgets for implementation now – but they will still affect monthly pay packets.

We’re at the start of a new tax year, and for many company car drivers that will mean a slight increase in the amount of benefit in kind company car tax they pay. For SME directors with expensive cars, though, the increase will be far greater

The most obvious change is that the company car benefit in kind tax rates become more stringent by 5g/km of CO2 emissions.

The 15% starting point (18% for diesel company cars) commences at 125g/km from the 2011/12 tax year; last year it was 130g/km. The effect will be to bump up a band most company cars – and increase the benefit in kind payable.

For example, the company car tax band for the 139g/km C02 Mercedes C-Class saloon C200 CDI BlueEfficiency Sport rises from 19% to 20%, increasing the benefit in kind value from £5552 to £5844. It’s marginal, but it will have an effect – like all other creeping tax increases.

Expensive car cap removed

Small business company directors, though, are more likely to notice the profound effect of the price cap removal for expensive cars.

Until now, there was an £80,000 limit on car list prices for benefit in kind company car tax. So if you drive, say, a £125,000 Aston Martin DB9 its list price for company car tax purposes was just £80,000. From April 2011, that changes.

The effect is a dramatic rise in benefit in kind value. For that same Aston Martin DB9, the benefit in kind value rises from £28,000 to £43,416 – or a 36% increase.

In particular, where small business owners and company directors need to watch is if they run a high value secondhand used business car. For example, a 2005 Porsche 911 Turbo S 3.6 996 might have a used retail price of £41,950 according to Glass’s Guide, but its price for company car tax purposes will be £99,300 – its cost new in 2005.

However, it should be noted, these changes do not affect you if you are self-employed or run your car through a partnership.

Hybrid discount disappears

Along with discounts for flex-fuel cars and bi-fuel cars, hybrid cars will now be assessed on their CO2 emissions alone without a 2% ‘technology discount’.

The biggest impact we think will be on SME directors running a car like the Lexus RX four-wheel drive hybrid. The company car tax band for a Lexus RX 450H SE-I rises from 15% to 19% in the 2011/12 tax year, representing a benefit in kind value rise of £1929 to £9164.

“It might have a small impact on business demand for the RX,” admits Jon Williams, managing director of Lexus, “although we’re a bit short of cars so there’s pressure on our availability anyway. Next year there’s a refresh to the RX and the powertrain is good anyway, because it’s under the 160g/km tax break. But we mustn’t be complacent.”

Change in NICs for business owners

So far we’ve concentrated on personal company car tax rises; but the new 20011/12 tax year also brings a rise in the business cost for SMEs running company cars because employers face an increase in National Insurance Contributions from 12.8% to 13.8%.

Andrew Hogsden, head of financial consultancy at Lex Autolease, says this tax rise is the most surreptitious of all.

“In many ways the impact of National Insurance is hidden. It doesn’t grab the headlines or provoke protests like fuel duty. But, for businesses large and small, it will have a far bigger impact on the bottom line than fuel pump price increases.

“We estimate that NICs will account for almost 60% of the total tax increase and the key way to really tackle this is by getting your drivers into less polluting vehicles. Anybody looking to order a new car now, should be looking even closer at its performance in terms of taxable emissions.”

And that’s the point for both small business owners and company car drivers: taxable emissions count. The lower the CO2 emissions, the lower the tax take. When you are deciding on which business cars your employees can have, or which company car to choose if you are a business car driver, pay attention to the CO2 emissions. The lower they are, the less tax you will pay.

Fleet Alliance expert comment on the company car tax changes for 2011/12

I don’t think there have been any major surprises coming out of this year’s Budget in relation to company car taxation and I’m sure the recent BIK company car tax changes will further push the vehicle manufacturers to continue the work done so far to produce engines with even lower CO2 emissions.

One change we would like to see is the government returning to producing future BIK company car tax figures for three years instead of two which would allow drivers to better budget when choosing a new company car.

As businesses face increases in NIC and BIK company car tax rates coupled with ever increasing fuel costs we believe that companies are more likely to engage with a leasing provider who will take the time to carry out a more in depth and consultative approach to their fleet needs to try and identify all areas where costs can be reduced.

David Blackmore
commercial director of fleet solutions provider, Fleet Alliance

Further information

If you want to know more about company car tax bands, then click on the link Company car tax tables.

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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