It’s a bit of a premature question, because I only posted my O Licence application off on Saturday.
But my car is now 15 years old, rust is sprouting everywhere and it is due a £900 cambelt change when it is only worth £400.
It used to be the case that the Inland Revenue regarded some vehicles as “Plant and Machinery”. I’m thinking of four-door pick-up trucks, and the running costs of these could be written off against tax.
Is this still the case? If I do put a tractor unit on the road, what kind of vehicle could I buy which would serve the purpose of being a family runaround while minimising my tax liability?
Harry Monk:
It’s a bit of a premature question, because I only posted my O Licence application off on Saturday.
But my car is now 15 years old, rust is sprouting everywhere and it is due a £900 cambelt change when it is only worth £400.
It used to be the case that the Inland Revenue regarded some vehicles as “Plant and Machinery”. I’m thinking of four-door pick-up trucks, and the running costs of these could be written off against tax.
Is this still the case? If I do put a tractor unit on the road, what kind of vehicle could I buy which would serve the purpose of being a family runaround while minimising my tax liability?
It’s more hassle than it’s worth these days Harry. HMRC have closed most of the loopholes, and any attempts to ‘dodge’ the tax (however genuine it may appear in your eyes) will be met with a frosty reception at the revenue.
Technically it IS still possible to buy a vehicle for business purposes, and subsequently write the depreciation off against tax entirely, however any aspect of personal use would then make it your personal company car and would attract the dreaded personal and corporate taxation liabilities. The very fact that you would not have another car to use would immediately make it obvious to HMRC that you MUST be using the car for personal purposes, and the onus would then be on your to prove otherwise.
The best way to do it is to buy your own car, and then pay yourself the tax free mileage rate for using it for business purposes. I do it this way, and pay myself more in mileage expenses each month than I do in salary!
The tax law used to be that a pick up or van carried a maximum tax liability of 750quid a year, but they soon cottoned onto that, surprise surprise
Best thing is to add up every mile you cover for ‘business’ purposes and claim for them, a trip to the pub to meet a lorry driving mate is business related if you talk about transport, so claim the miles, every time you go to the ATM and get a balance, it’s business miles, when you go to Waitrose, anything you buy that’s business related, like a biro or window cleaner makes it a business trip, you get the picture
Run a dieseasal car and you can claim the vodka back too
Well, Morrisons, with its pastiche “village shops” theme for the fish and greengrocery sections etc always strikes me as being like some type of Disney-fied Northern-themed amusement park. In addition, it has to be said that Waitrose seems to have an unofficial policy of hiring fit young babes whereas Morrisons is an equal opportunities employer when it comes to munters.
all the above is well and good but i park in a yard with about 10 other owner drivers and you cant move for nissan navaras and toyota hilux,s
a couple of years ago when i bought a navara i also bought {on the accountants advice} a £200 nacker bag that was used for commuting to work and the pick up was solely used for business, it wasnt of course and i used it for everything but all the other o/d,s i know drive pickups, discoverys and shoguns so there must be something in it still
My account has convinced me that owning my own (Volvo XC70) car is better than owning something like a warrior. Certainly I think so I only average about 8k at 45p per mile but my fuel bill is tiny
A pickup truck such as the Navara or Isuzu is counted as a commercial vehicle - a van.
I had one as my ‘company car’ for a couple of years. From my point of view as a simple ‘employee’ I wrote to the tax man and told him I have permanent use of a company ‘van’ including private mileage. Tax man then changed my tax code and I reckon it cost me about £10 a week in tax.
I could then use the vehicle for both work and pleasure and didn’t have to account for business or private miles - it just didn’t matter. No benefit in kind etc. Tax was deducted via PAYE but because the vehicle is a ‘van’ there is no benefit in kind. it isn’t a company car.
During the week I may have lent the car to the workshop to go fetch parts etc, so it was a genuine working vehicle for the business but I took it home each night and even went on holiday in it.
if i remember correctly there is a fixed figure for having use of a van - and if you only use it ‘occasionaly’ that’s it. That figure is taken off your tax free allowance. there is then a figure of something like £750 if you have full private use of the van - again taken off your tax free allowance.
I actually had an Isuzu Rodeo - very nice and perfectly good as a car.
Of course the rules may have changed but not that I know of.
Harry Monk:
Rover 825. Was £700 five years ago (with a service) so £900 would be about the figure now. That was with a private garage too, Rover wanted £1100.
Just run it until it snaps then, unless something else kills it first.
Harry Monk:
Rover 825. Was £700 five years ago (with a service) so £900 would be about the figure now. That was with a private garage too, Rover wanted £1100.
Just run it until it snaps then, unless something else kills it first.
Paul
That’s probably what I’ll do although it’s so heavy on petrol it would probably be worth while in the longer term scrapping it and buying something cheaper to run.
Harry Monk:
Rover 825. Was £700 five years ago (with a service) so £900 would be about the figure now. That was with a private garage too, Rover wanted £1100.
How do they get that? It’s only £160 for the full cambelt kit . . . and less than a day to fit it!
Just do as Repton says and run it into the ground.
