On Mon, 06 Oct 2003 12:27:59 +0100, Tony Bryer
wrote:

In article , Derek
wrote:
Company car benefit (which is tax & NI on money I haven't
had) at the new rates would be the equivalent of about another
5%.

For which you've got the car.

But I didn't want it. It's full of drawings, tools, test equipment and
spare parts. I use my wife's car at weekends and don't have to travel
to work.

In the first instance the IR reduced my allowances by £7.4k, this for
a 5 year old Fiat Ulysse (80k miles) worth about £4.75k ! I got it
reduced to £4.4k but that still seemed a raw deal.

For me the change in CC tax rules
was an absolute winner. My new Honda Jazz cost me (technically
my company of course) £11,200, 25% of this (reducing) each year
set against corporation tax, along with road tax, insurance and
servicing. I pay 15% x £11.2K x 40% in tax = £13p.w. for the
benefit of having a brand new car, all expenses paid except
petrol. If the company decided to allocate £3,000 to me instead
of to car expenses I'd end up with £25p.w. net + £13 less tax =
£38p.w. to run a car - finance, depreciation, servicing, tax and
insurance. Actual costs as before say £60. So having the company
car is equivalent (in my case) to several percent off tax not
on.

I now don't run a company car and claim the mileage allowance. I take
it you've investigated that option, it's attractive if you do a lot of
business miles in a car that's cheap to own/run.

DG