The Best Car Finance Blog In The World

One of the most common questions I get asked is how to finance your leased car. You have a number of choices if you run your own business, less of a choice if you are employed and only have one option provided by the company – finance the vehicle yourself then recharge the company for your business mileage.

But for many of my clients it can be a dilema which the HMRC is about to complicate further if their proposed changes go ahead. We knew that they were looking into Salary Sacrifice schemes which can get very complicated because it allows employees to pay for their car out of gross income rather than what the rest of us do and pay out of income after tax and NI has been paid.

I wasn’t surprised when it was announced that the HMRC were looking into this as they not only miss out on employee tax and NI payments but also employer NI. However, because of the very complex recording and reporting of car usage it has only been viable for providers of salary sacrifice to make available to companies of over 100 employees. And with only 80 – 100,000 cars on such schemes it has not grabbed the attention of the guys in HMRC.

However, it now seems that the net is widening and the tax man is now looking at the way company owners, directors and employees finance their cars in an effort to raise more money. They have taken the view that the provision of a car allowance should be lumped into the investigation.

With the proposals potentially being included in the Autumn Statement 2016 we could see the new rules effective from April 2017 this is worrying for those receiving car allowances, especially if they have opted for an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (ULEV). If they had opted for a company car they could end up paying less tax than taking a car allowance. Very complicated but worth discussing with your accountant before making the decision. Once they have completed the consultation and finalised the rules I will let you know. By Graham Hill

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Most employers and employees know that there is a tax and NI free allowance payable of 45 pence per mile when an employee uses his own car for work. This applies to the first 10,000 business miles per annum, after that it drops to 25 pence per mile. If the employer only actually pays 20 pence per mile the employee can claim the difference (25 pence Read more »

I have written about this before but having read something shocking I thought it was about time to address it again. Here is what I read: ‘More police die driving to and from work than die fighting crime. And more firefighters die driving to and from work than die fighting fire.’ That is frightening isn’t it? Staff cutbacks and pressures on staff to put in greater Read more »

I’ve warned about this before but if you are an employer and you have staff who drive their own vehicles on company business you have a responsibility to ensure that the employee is properly insured. Research by Trimble MRM found that more than half of those driving, what are termed, ‘grey fleet’ cars, are not properly insured. This leaves the Read more »

The EU are about to do it to us again, impose a new law on us concerning eye tests. The impending legislation will require van drivers to have their eyes tested every 5 years and private motorists to be tested every 10-15 years. In the past there has been no law governing eye tests although most responsible employers offered them to their employees Read more »

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The first case brought under the Corporate Manslaughter Act has given businesses of all sizes cause for concern. Especially as the new Health and Safety at Work Act makes it even easier to bring prosecutions. In the first case Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings were convicted of the death of 27 year old geologist Alex Wright who died in Read more »

After allowing local councils to levy workplace parking charges it seems that few are actually taking up the opportunity. Nottingham was the first to make a move and it was thought that all local authorities would follow suit but after seeing the reaction of local large employers, who announced they would move their offices rather than pay the parking levy, other councils have viewed the opportunity far more cautiously. Read more »

In October last year the old dopey Government introduced a law that was aimed at reducing the legal aid bill by saying that if you challenged a motoring charge, such as speeding, and you won your case, you could only claim costs based on the legal aid rate. So if you had paid for a solicitor to prepare the case and represent you, and you won your case, you could only recover through the court the legal aid rate which Read more »

It’s bad enough trying to run a small business during a recession whilst at the same time ensuring that you don’t accidentally breach employment, health and safety, consumer etc. laws that could land you in all sorts of trouble. In the current climate its not unusual for small businesses to come to an arrangement with employees to use their own cars, rather than go to the expense of providing a company car, for Read more »

There has been an increase in the number of employees who have either opted for cash for cars or been expected to use their own cars for business in exchange for a cash payment. Either way there is a responsibility on the employer to ensure that the vehicle is roadworthy and properly maintained as well as properly insured for business use. There is a grey area for employers who, in the event of an accident, in Read more »