What Is Company Car Benefit And Tax?

What Is Company Car Benefit And Tax?

We explain how Company Car Benefit works

Company car benefit is designed to provide a way of taxing the value to you of having a car provided by your employer.

In effect you are being taxed on the benefit of your employer paying for a company car's running costs.

Go to our company car benefit calculator.

You can see the detailed rules published by HM Revenue & Customs by clicking on this link.

What is the taxable value of a company car?

To get to the taxable value of your company car you need to multiply the car's List Price by a percentage figure based on the car's Carbon Dioxide ('CO2') emissions from the exhaust pipe.

The higher the taxable list price of a company car, the higher the annual taxable beneft and vice versa.

Similarly, higher levels of CO2 output result in a higher company car taxable benefit.

The exception at the moment is for electric company cars - these don't produce CO2, so they are taxed at special rates.

To find the taxable benefit of a company car propelled purely by electricity look up '0' in the first column of the tax table below for the appropriate tax year.

What is 'List Price'?

For company car benefit purposes 'List Price' has a specific definition. It's the price of the car as published by the manufacturer, official importer or wholesale distributor of the car on the day before the car’s first registration.

The word 'distributor' doesn’t include a local retail dealership, which means that a dealer's after discount, on-the-road price is ignored.

What's in the 'List Price'?

Here’s what’s included in the definition of List Price:

  • the basic price of the car;
  • the price of any options or accessories fitted to the car prior to delivery, plus any accessories fitted to the car after delivery where the accessory costs more than £100;
  • delivery charges; number plates; and
  • VAT on all of the above.

Here’s what’s not included in the definition of List Price:

  • Vehicle Excise Duty (the "tax disc");
  • the initial first Registration Fee;
  • any delivery fuel provided with the vehicle;
  • the cost of equipment to enable a chronically sick or disabled person to drive the car;
  • the cost of adapting the car for a registered disabled driver or of options/accessories required by such a driver to be able to drive the car (e.g. optional electric windows on a car where the employee would not be capable of operating manual windows);
  • the cost of “retro-fitting” the car to run on LPG/CNG (i.e. where the equipment is fitted after delivery) if the car does not have a recognised gas-based CO2 output.

P11D Value

The taxable List Price of a company car is often called the 'P11D' value - this is a reference to the number of the official form used to report taxable benefits such as company cars.

Special Rules

There are additional special rules for company car benefit and tax which affect the List Price or annual taxable benefit.

Here's a summary of the key special rules:

Electric Cars

Cars powered solely by electricity don't have a CO2 rating.

As a result, electric cars are treated as if the CO2 output is zero and have the lowest taxable benefit.

Take a look a the percentages in the table below to see how much.

Diesel Cars

Cars fuelled by diesel are subject to a surcharge of 4% of List Price (subject to a maximum taxable benefit of 37% of List Price) except where they meet the new 'Real World Driving Emissions' legal requirements (known as 'RDE2').

Second Cars

If more than one company car is provided then each car is treated as a separate taxable benefit calculated according to list price, CO2 output etc.

Hybrid Powered Cars

Cars using hybrid electricity and internal combustion engines use a different percentage depending on the number miles the vehicle can travel under electric power only.

You can see the effect on the taxable benefit by clicking on this link.

Gas Powered Cars

Cars running on gas (e.g. Liquefied Petroleum Gas – LPG - and Compressed Natural Gas – CNG) with a recognised gas-based CO2 output are taxed according to the equivalent petrol powered car with the same emissions.

Cars running on gas but without a recognised gas-based CO2 output (for example, where the gas fuel equipment is fitted after the car has been delivered) will be taxed on the equivalent petrol CO2 output of the car, but any additional cost of the car related to equipping it to run on gas will be ignored when calculating the car’s taxable List Price.

No Recognised CO2 Output/Pre-1998 Cars

If a company car has an internal combustion engine and either does not have a recognised CO2 output or was first registered before 1 January 1998 then the following percentages of List Price will apply:


 
Engine
Capacity
% Of
List Price
 

1,400 or less
24%
1,401-2,000
35%
2,001 or more
37%


Capital Contributions

If you contribute towards the purchase price of your company car (the 'capital cost') then your 'capital contribution' can reduce your annual taxable benefit.

Each £1 that you contribute towards the cost of your company car reduces the taxable List Price.

For example, if your car costs £40,000 and you contribute £1,000 towards the capital cost then the List Price is reduced by £1,000 to £39,000 when calculating your taxable benefit.

There is a limit to the amount of your capital contributions that will qualify for reducing the List Price for tax purposes.

Currently the maximum is set at £5,000, so if you contribute £6,000 then only the first £5,000 will qualify for reducing the taxable List Price of your company car.

Private Use Contributions

If you are required to make a financial contribution as a condition of your company car being available to you for private motoring, your contribution will normally reduce the annual taxable benefit of the car.

Each £1 that you pay during the tax year as a private use contribution reduces your annual taxable benefit by £1.

For example, let’s assume you pay £50 per month as a private use contribution (i.e. £600pa).

If your car's List Price is £40,000 and the CO2 derived taxable percentage is 20, the standard annual taxable benefit of your car would be £8,000pa (£40,000 x 20%).

The £8,000pa benefit is then reduced for the £600pa private use contribution, which makes the annual company car benefit £7,400pa.

The maximum tax-deductible private use contribution you can make in any tax year is equal to the taxable benefit of your company car.

For example, if your annual taxable benefit is £4,000 then the maximum private use contributions for which you can obtain a tax deduction is £4,000.

A negative taxable benefit (and therefore a tax refund) cannot be created by making a private use contribution greater than the annual benefit of your car.

'Top-Up' Contributions

If you contribute towards the costs of obtaining a company car of a higher specification than your normal entitlement then your “top-up” contribution is only allowed as a deduction from your taxable benefit if it is a condition of the car being available to you for private use.

If the “top-up” contribution is simply a condition of the higher specification car being provided to you then the contribution is not normally tax deductible.

It is therefore usually advisable to have your employer write to you specifying that any private use contribution is required as a condition of the car being made available to you for private use, particularly if the contribution includes a “top-up” for a higher specification car being provided.

Availability

If your company car is unavailable to you for 30 consecutive days or more (perhaps for repairs) your car benefit (and your fuel benefit if appropriate) is reduced to take account of this.

During a tax year, periods before your company car first becomes available for your private use and periods after your car stops being available are ignored for taxable benefit purposes.

In addition, if your car becomes temporarily unavailable for 30 or more days then your taxable benefit is reduced by the number of days involved.

For example, let’s assume that your car has a taxable List Price of £40,000, a taxable percentage of 20% of List Price applies and your car is unavailable due to repairs for 31 days during the tax year.

Your annual taxable benefit for the year would be:

  • Manufacturer’s List Price £40,000 x 20% = £8,000
  • Availability Adjustment: £8,000/365 x 31 = £679
  • Availability Adjusted Taxable Benefit = £7,321 (£8,000 - £679).

Company Car CO2 Output

Once the taxable List Price of a company car has been determined the next stage of calculating the company car benefit uses the engine's CO2 output.

By using CO2 output as a factor in calcuating company car benefit a degree of adjustment for the effect of internal combustion engine pollution and (in particular) global warming caused by company cars is introduced into the benefit.

The aim is to encourage company car drivers to choose cars with lower levels of CO2 output, though other pollutants produced by cars such as oxides of nitrogen and hydrocarbons are not currently included in the calculation.

What is the CO2 output of a company car?

CO2 output of a company car is determined by the amount of CO2 that a car emits from its exhaust, measured in Grammes Per Kilometre travelled (GPK/m).

The official CO2 output for a company car is published by the Vehicle Certification Agency (“VCA”), an agency of the Department for Transport.

Published CO2 ratings are generally only available for cars that have been sold since 1 January 1998.

Effect of CO2 output on company car benefit

A company car's annual taxable benefit is determined by multiplying the car's List Price by a percentage determined according to its CO2 output.

The percentage is taken from a table which varies between tax years and assumes the car was first registered from 6 April 2020.

To calculate the annual taxable benefit of a company car:

  1. Go to the table for the date of first registration of the vehicle.
  2. Look up the CO2 output of the car* in the 1st column of the table (e.g. for 63GP/Km look at the row 60-64).
  3. Read across the table to find the taxable percentage of List Price of the car according to the CO2 output.
  4. If your car has a diesel engine, add a 4% surcharge to the table figure (up to a maximum of 37% including the surcharge) unless the car's engine meets the RDE2 standard for emissions.
  5. Multiply your car’s List Price by the percentage found.

*Electric cars have a CO2 output of zero

For example, in the 2023/24 tax year assume;

  • your car was registered after 6 April 2020
  • your car uses petrol and has a list price of £30,000;
  • its CO2 output is 100GP/Km;

look down the 1st column of the 1st table to find 100-104, then across to the fourth column (2023-24) to find the percentage (25%), then multiply £30,000 by 25% = £7,500 annual company car taxable benefit.

If your car’s CO2 output exceeds the maximum figure in the 1st column, use the maximum.


CO2 OUTPUT (G/PKm) ELECTRIC ONLY RANGE CARS REGISTERED FROM 6 APRIL 2020
PERCENTAGE OF LIST PRICE
2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2026-27 2027-28
0 N/A 2 2 2 3 4 5
1-50 >=130 2 2 2 3 4 5
1-50 70-129 5 5 5 6 7 8
1-50 40-69 8 8 8 9 10 11
1-50 30-39 12 12 12 13 14 15
1-50 <30 14 14 14 15 16 17
51-54 N/A 15 15 15 16 17 18
55-59 N/A 16 16 16 17 18 19
60-64 N/A 17 17 17 18 19 20
65-69 N/A 18 18 18 19 20 21
70-74 N/A 19 19 19 20 21 21
75-79 N/A 20 20 20 21 21 21
80-84 N/A 21 21 21 22 22 22
85-89 N/A 22 22 22 23 23 23
90-94 N/A 23 23 23 24 24 24
95-99 N/A 24 24 24 25 25 25
100-104 N/A 25 25 25 26 26 26
105-109 N/A 26 26 26 27 27 27
110-114 N/A 27 27 27 28 28 28
115-119 N/A 28 28 28 29 29 29
120-124 N/A 29 29 29 30 30 30
125-129 N/A 30 30 30 31 31 31
130-134 N/A 31 31 31 32 32 32
135-139 N/A 32 32 32 33 33 33
140-144 N/A 33 33 33 34 34 34
145-149 N/A 34 34 34 35 35 35
150-154 N/A 35 35 35 36 36 36
155-159 N/A 36 36 36 37 37 37
160-164 N/A 37 37 37 37 37 37
165-169 N/A 37 37 37 37 37 37
170+ N/A 37 37 37 37 37 37

Company Car Benefit & Tax Calculator

You can look-up a calculation of company car tax for all new cars with our company car benefit and tax calculator.


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