Company van tax/fuel BIK

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Discussion

chrismoose91

Original Poster:

205 posts

107 months

Tuesday 7th February 2023
quotequote all
I've been offered a new role that will involve driving around various sites within the business. With this, I'll be getting a company van, provided with fuel card and the vehicle will be taken home every day.

I've checked up on the BIK for personal use and fuel BIK - this works out at just under £80 a month.

Are there any other bits I've overlooked?
Will it affect my pension?
For those with vans that can use it for personal stuff, do you have to pay for the fuel used during this usage? How does it work?

New to the whole BIK thing.

TIA.

surveyor

18,141 posts

191 months

Tuesday 7th February 2023
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Should not affect anything else. Tax cost depends on what rate you are.

If you are being taxed on fuel benefits you should have private fuel use also. My old contract had a 'reasonable private mileage' in it. If you have to repay cost of your private fuel then obvs you should not be paying for the benefit.

There is no real catch and it's far more employee-friendly than company car tax.


chrismoose91

Original Poster:

205 posts

107 months

Wednesday 8th February 2023
quotequote all
Thanks Surveyor. I thought I was overthinking it.
And yes, much cheaper than a company car.

The personal use will be minimal anyway. I'm getting rid of my personal van for this one.

Sy1441

1,199 posts

167 months

Wednesday 8th February 2023
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You mentioned you checked on the BIK for private use which is great. Does your employer allow the van to be used for personal use?

A company I worked for issued vans to field agents which they used to visit properties, they took the van home at night also. We didn't insure the vans for anything other than business use and any use outside of normal business was prohibited. Worth checking if you haven't already.

Edited by Sy1441 on Wednesday 8th February 11:06

chrismoose91

Original Poster:

205 posts

107 months

Wednesday 8th February 2023
quotequote all
Thanks Sy.
I did check with them first as I mentioned I'll be taking my daughter to nursery in mornings and wanted to be covered. And the odd trip to Wickes for building materials. They're happy with it and insured sufficiently!

Sy1441

1,199 posts

167 months

Wednesday 8th February 2023
quotequote all
chrismoose91 said:
Thanks Sy.
I did check with them first as I mentioned I'll be taking my daughter to nursery in mornings and wanted to be covered. And the odd trip to Wickes for building materials. They're happy with it and insured sufficiently!
Excellent, sounds a simple thing but someone using one of our vans of an evening to take his dog somewhere of an evening was involved in a crash which was put as being his fault and he was classed as driving uninsured. We were very explicit about what acceptable use was and not only did he end up with a criminal conviction for driving without insurance he also got sacked.

surveyor

18,141 posts

191 months

Wednesday 8th February 2023
quotequote all
Sy1441 said:
chrismoose91 said:
Thanks Sy.
I did check with them first as I mentioned I'll be taking my daughter to nursery in mornings and wanted to be covered. And the odd trip to Wickes for building materials. They're happy with it and insured sufficiently!
Excellent, sounds a simple thing but someone using one of our vans of an evening to take his dog somewhere of an evening was involved in a crash which was put as being his fault and he was classed as driving uninsured. We were very explicit about what acceptable use was and not only did he end up with a criminal conviction for driving without insurance he also got sacked.
It's why I think all of our vehicles have cover for private use, even the company-only ones. It's not worth falling into the gaps for either the company or the employee

chrismoose91

Original Poster:

205 posts

107 months

Wednesday 8th February 2023
quotequote all
CheesecakeRunner said:
If personal use really will be minimal, run the numbers as to how much the personal fuel BIK will cost against actually just paying for the fuel you use. You might find you need to do a fair amount of personal mileage (which does include some types of commute) before the fuel card BIK is worth it.
The FBIK accounts for around £11 of the monthly tax.

LeeM135i

657 posts

61 months

Saturday 11th February 2023
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Our guys sign a form to say they will not use the van for personal use as it has an impact on their BIK and our VAT / capital allowances. The vans are insured for personal use, they might pick up some shopping on the way home or drop their kids at school on the way out to the first job of the day but HMRC describe it as a small detour on route to work.

Years ago at a previous company HMRC investigated our van usage and it cost a few of the team a lot of money as they were found to be using the van as a car a lot of the time.

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

137 months

Saturday 11th February 2023
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If you opt out you pay nothing, no fuel no tax

HMRC state you’re aloud the occasional personal journey such as going to the tip or buying some shopping on the way home, so if you’re not going to use it much just opt out.

If you do stay opted in, you pay flat rate tax and then it differs company by company, mine charge per mile.

martinbiz

3,373 posts

152 months

Thursday 9th March 2023
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Nickbrapp said:
If you opt out you pay nothing, no fuel no tax

HMRC state you’re aloud the occasional personal journey such as going to the tip or buying some shopping on the way home, so if you’re not going to use it much just opt out.

If you do stay opted in, you pay flat rate tax and then it differs company by company, mine charge per mile.
If you have opted in and are paying the BIK why would the co be charging you anything?

Nickbrapp

5,277 posts

137 months

Thursday 9th March 2023
quotequote all
martinbiz said:
If you have opted in and are paying the BIK why would the co be charging you anything?
You either pay a flat rate of BIK if you use a fuel card for private use, or some companies will charge you per mile for fuel at HMRC rates