O/T Its surprising how people vote

[red flagged]

What you mean the barstewards are forcing you to have a company car?
You could always provide your own & avoid the tax liability the company car entails

going round in circles here nip and missing the point, scroll up please Exile I did used to use my own car for work.

I think the point SB was making was that benefits like company cars and private medical insurance were some sort of way of avoiding paying tax, if I'm reading him right. The idea being that a firm would pay you 4k a year less (which you'd pay tax on) and instead give you a brand new beemer which would be a free car you paid nothing on.
It's never worked that way though, I'm taxed to the point that if it wasn't for the high mileage I do it would pay me to fund my own car from the tax I have going out of my monthly wage to pay for my company car.

My question is why should I have to pay so much tax on something I need for my job ? Particularly when you consider that the car is 3 years old but I'm taxed on it's current list price ?
There's no tax avoidance going on with company cars or other benefits. SB thought it was some sort of avoidance tactic for the benefit of the 'high earners' which is far from the truth, most company car users arent high earners, and are penalised through tax for doing a job that needs one. Thats the point I was making, perhaps not so well |?

[Exiletyke]

going round in circles here nip and missing the point, scroll up please Exile I did used to use my own car for work.

I think the point SB was making was that benefits like company cars and private medical insurance were some sort of way of avoiding paying tax, if I'm reading him right. The idea being that a firm would pay you 4k a year less (which you'd pay tax on) and instead give you a brand new beemer which would be a free car you paid nothing on.
It's never worked that way though, I'm taxed to the point that if it wasn't for the high mileage I do it would pay me to fund my own car from the tax I have going out of my monthly wage to pay for my company car.

My question is why should I have to pay so much tax on something I need for my job ? Particularly when you consider that the car is 3 years old but I'm taxed on it's current list price ?
There's no tax avoidance going on with company cars or other benefits. SB thought it was some sort of avoidance tactic for the benefit of the 'high earners' which is far from the truth, most company car users arent high earners, and are penalised through tax for doing a job that needs one. Thats the point I was making, perhaps not so well |?

I have scrolled back & this is what you said [I had read & understood it before]

"So I told them I wasn't prepared to use my own car and they allowed me to choose from the very limited company car list (at my grade of course, you can't just have what you want). Trouble is I pay so much now in company car tax, you pay on the list price of the vehicle for the duration so as the vehicle gets older you still pay the taxable amount based on it's current( new) list price."


But you still chose the company car option, why?
presumably you knew the rules before choosing & you must be on 40% tax I assume

[red flagged]

I have scrolled back & this is what you said [I had read & understood it before]

"So I told them I wasn't prepared to use my own car and they allowed me to choose from the very limited company car list (at my grade of course, you can't just have what you want). Trouble is I pay so much now in company car tax, you pay on the list price of the vehicle for the duration so as the vehicle gets older you still pay the taxable amount based on it's current( new) list price."


But you still chose the company car option, why?
presumably you knew the rules before choosing & you must be on 40% tax I assume

I chose the company car option Exile for many reasons which I've tried to explain.
Just imagine for a minute that you were in a job where you were expected to use your family car for work.
You have to carry work equipment and documentation ( which you then have to unload to fit the family in) this equipment is usually dirty so the inside of the car starts to suffer ( remember this is your own car), you have to pay more insurance on your own car because you're using it for business purposes, it's usually filthy because of the job you do.
The real killer for me was the servicing frequency increased, as did the cost of replacing worn tyres, as did the depreciation in value - a car with 100k on the clock is going to be worth far less when you come to part ex it than a car with 36k on the clock.

So I chose the company car option.

SB thinks that it's a free car which it's not, I could buy a car on finance for the monthly tax I pay on my company car, I choose not to because of the above.

My company car that I swan around in as one of these 'high flyers' splashing the poor serfs of Barnsley as I float off to my p1ss easy 9-5 job where there's no pressure, deadlines or targets is in fact a heavily taxed tool of the trade and not the freebie those who don't have one think it is. Unfortunately as with most things there are folk who have already made their minds up irrespective of what the reality is, and then there's the rest of us.

[Exiletyke]

I chose the company car option Exile for many reasons which I've tried to explain.
Just imagine for a minute that you were in a job where you were expected to use your family car for work.
You have to carry work equipment and documentation ( which you then have to unload to fit the family in) this equipment is usually dirty so the inside of the car starts to suffer ( remember this is your own car), you have to pay more insurance on your own car because you're using it for business purposes, it's usually filthy because of the job you do.
The real killer for me was the servicing frequency increased, as did the cost of replacing worn tyres, as did the depreciation in value - a car with 100k on the clock is going to be worth far less when you come to part ex it than a car with 36k on the clock.

So I chose the company car option.

SB thinks that it's a free car which it's not, I could buy a car on finance for the monthly tax I pay on my company car, I choose not to because of the above.

My company car that I swan around in as one of these 'high flyers' splashing the poor serfs of Barnsley as I float off to my p1ss easy 9-5 job where there's no pressure, deadlines or targets is in fact a heavily taxed tool of the trade and not the freebie those who don't have one think it is. Unfortunately as with most things there are folk who have already made their minds up irrespective of what the reality is, and then there's the rest of us.

Do you not use the company car for family purposes
or do you have a second car?

[red flagged]

Do you not use the company car for family purposes
or do you have a second car?

my wife has a car. she's disabled, we use her car most of the time as it's easier for her to get in and out of.