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Hi
I,ve opted not to use my van privately.If I wish to visit friends with my family for example and recieve a call,I have to load everyone back in the car return home get my van and go.
As I,m on call would I not be able to follow my family in my van and when a call came in I could go.I,m trying to convince my employer that this should not be private mileage.
Would be grateful for views please.
Regards Bernard
Bernard,
I Think this one is a VERY GREY area.
As far as i am concerned, if you opt out (Which i also have) you cannot use youre van at all unless you can prove it's job related. Easy enough during the week as you are booked on a job but at weekends i may take the van up the garage to wash it, do tyre pressures or buying tools or stuff i need locally how do i prove im doing something relating to work or the maintaining the van without booking any time to it.
Speak to youre company accountant about it, at the end of the day if the taxman decides people are abusing the opt out they will probably come down hard on the company and check everything
Regards
Ray
We Brits are just so honest
:)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Abe
Or we have a tracker fitted:D
Regards Bernard
Just tell them its mobile advertising, or get 'visiting relatives' put in your job description:rolleyes:
Jon
You as the standby engineer have to be ready to attened any call when required, even when visiting relatives. So I think its wrong to ask you to leave behind what is, in a sense, your mobile tool box. Wouldnt you be more efficient if you had it with you.
Regards
Alex
I Have had a look around the usual sites (DTI) etc and cant find anything concrete on this one. For most other people who have the use of a company vehicle they do not have people who are on call. I am still not going to take the risk, yep its a pain in the A### but rather that than getting a £600 tax bill at the end of the year.
Has anyone had a difinative answer on this one yet
Regards
Fatboy
Hi Bernard.if you you are on standby for that particular weekend you are shown to be working,so in theory you can use the vehicle.when i checked with my company they said this was the case.if you opt out of paying you are allowed one trip a month eg;to the dump and that is it.Everyone hates trackers but this is the only good reason to have one.:)
if you dont have a tracker pop into your nearest site and get them to log a job so then you have something to book to. ooh i`m sneaky.lol
aaaah the beauty of not havinga tracker...might take a drive down the country this wknd.. haha
On the basis of what I have been reading here then, can I leave the company van in the lock-up \ compound, (I only live a short distance from the premises), when not on call and when on-call, I can take the van home, and not suffer any tax penalty?
I'm just looking for the most tax efficient solution that keeps money in my pocket given I normally need to run my private car (but would consider selling the car and using the van if the tax position was worth it). I just regard any vehicles as boxes on wheels that carry things around and nothing beyond that.
Before the kids came along, I never ran a car for 12 years and looking back it was probably one of the best legal tax dodges going :p
Steve
You have to prove that you are not using the van if quetioned so the tracker is ok.
Your NI payments also change if you opt to use the van,So the employer can charge you for the private fuel and the ni and you pay tax on it Its cheaper to have a car of your own
Hi bernard ,
Means when you are on call you have to stay local just in case a call comes in . Either that or put tracker in a lead box and use van willy nilly :D
Non of you have stated that if you use the vehicle for private mileage that you have payed your employer for the fuel used on private trips.
I'm sorry guys but you can't have it both ways, pay for your own private fuel or run another vehicle. £ 600 quid in tax is nothing compared with running your own car etc.
I use mine for private mileage,i have not given any money to my company for the privelage,and no-ones been bothered to ask for it.Quote:
Originally Posted by LRAC
I send a mileage form in once a month with business and private miles.I go for mini weekend breaks and fill up with the fuel card £90 a time and still no-ones bothered.
Wait for the taxman pal.
Theres no ESCAPE
I am with a new company now,maybe they will sort me out.;)Quote:
Originally Posted by SKOOBY
sheesh what a setup.... so you UK guys get a bit more cash if you don't use the car for private usage - is this correct? Can you just say yes I want it for private usage as well? What is the difference in pay schemes?
Down here its up to the employer, every company I have worked at hasn't had an issue with personal usage so its been pretty good, as long as you don't go on a 900 km trip to another state without telling anyone.
:rolleyes::mad:Its not the companys Its the goverment who have changed the tax law
750 valve
We cant do 900 km here if we do we fall into the sea
^ Cheers for the laugh!
Do you guys have a maximum respond time to get on site?
I know for me it was 1Hr, and if I wasn't driving the van I wouldn't be able to make that.
So the employers have two choices, let me take the van where ever I go in the local area, or pay me a lot more to put my life on hold and stay home and never go anywhere outside of working hours.
thanks abe I needed a good chuckle :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Abe
so its a govt tax issue is it that requires you guys to pay more tax if you do private milage hey? whats the difference if you do?
Hi Chunk, its not if but when the tax man gets you in the end, they did me for three years worth of fuel tax two years after I had left the company I was at and not declaring any, i always log private mileage and pay my way now.
Just wanna comment on van tax, its a pain but still its here, cant understand why anyone who needs to use a vehicle outside of work would opt not to use there van and buy there own vehicle, what kind of car is availble at £690 a year or £13.26 a week. I have always opted to use my company vehicles as they are generally new and reliable and bought a run round for the missus.
Then where onto private mileage, the goverment rate recomended for your comapny to charge for private mileage is 9p per mile for engines under 2.5 litre and 12p for 2.5 litre and over, so fuel is also subsidised when opting to use and pay for it.
If you want free fuel from your company the the following applies.
To calculate the benefit charge on free fuel, the C02 percentage figure for your car should be multiplied against a set figure for the year. For 2008/9 this figure is £16,900.
Example calculation
The fuel scale charge (the value of benefit on which you pay tax) for a petrol car that has a CO2 emission of 195g/km:
£16,900 x 27% = £4,563
So, if you're a 40% tax-payer running a petrol car with a 195g/km CO2 emission, the calculation would be:
40% x £4,563 = £1,825
Therefore, you'd pay £1,825 in tax for the benefit of free fuel for private mileage in the tax year 2008–09.
So unless you are going to use more fuel than £1825 a year (thats roughly 20k private mileage a year) then you should opt to pay for it.
Quick calc you put £30 petrol in your own car and use it your self in a week. That equates to being able to do do nearly 190 miles in your comapany van with all the tax and fuel paid for and not having to worry about any other runnings cost like MOT, servicing, road tax, tyres etc. so if your car uses more than £30 to do that mileage not only is it costing your more you are also losing out on the use of an additional vehicle for an extra few quid a week, especially handy as just about every company i worked for allowed my missus to drive my van (always handy 2 vehicles is better than 1, she goes shopping you go fishing or what ever).
Most of our engineers opt not to pay the £690 a year and have bought other vehicles ...???. the engineers on call are not allowed to run around in there vans when on call (not our rules, tax man says so) they have reasonable access to there vehicles when on call.
As for call out, thats nature of the beast for a Reefer. doing call out rota and not being able to have a beer that week, friday 4pm call outs, missing tea with the missus or cancelling holidays for work, it will never change and any one who dont like it should get a 9-5 job.