Refusing a company car

[sneezysmurf]

I have been employed with my company for just over five years (field sales, B2B).
The nearest office is just under a 100 miles from my home location.
Over the past 12 months we have had trackers fitted and our choice of company car withdrawn, now a cheaper make / model is being provided.

Due to family commitments the provided car is not suitable (I need a 7 seater) so I am now running my own car as well as paying company car tax.

Is there a way around this. My employer is not interested at all, seems to think i should be grateful for having a job 'in these tough economic times' which translated is job market is tough, we can pretty much do what we want.

Anyway rant over (for a bit), the tracker got me thinking, it is switchable between business use and personal use (via a key)
If I were to stop using it for personal use & could prove this via the tracker could i somehow avoid the tax?
if not if i found somewhere local where i could leave the car and keys (secured?) would this mean I'm no longer liable to the tax?
I requested a van as someone told me panel van's are just about tax free, but my employer refused, 'you have to have the company car'

Anyone got any experience of this, it seems rather unfair that I have to have a taxable benefit which I don't want or use!

Thanks in advance for any advice. regards

[woofgang]

Ask the tax office, they should know.

[scotman]

Agree with Woofgang. Ask the experts.

[buildersmate]

I don't understand the circumstances underlying this. Are you saying you have a company car that you don't use (it sits on your drive) or are you saying that you have refused the keys of a company car and yet the company is still declaring to HMRC that you have a car? - the process for doing this is on the P11D form that the employer completes and supplies you a copy.
One wonders how you are getting on with mileage claims in your own car since it seems unlikely you are being paid 40p per mile.

[sneezysmurf]

I drive the car most days for business and this is recorded on the tracker as business use. I no longer use the car for personal use, but company car tax is still applied, regardless of if i choose to use the car for just business or business and private.

With regard to fuel, this is via a fuel card.

My question is, if i can prove that i do not use the car for personal use (via the tracker) can i avoid paying company car tax?

[Andyvon]

It sounds as if your latest car is a result of simple cost-cutting by the firm Sneezy. I do know that the company's fleet insurance is reduced by a considerable amount by fitting the tracker - and it has the added bonus of enabling them to keep tabs on you!

My brother was saddled with a Cherokee Jeep for the first 6 months of his job. No one else in the company wanted the thing! It was costing him £500 a month in fuel just to get to and from work! In the end he negotiated an agreement in which he bought a presentable car (Audi A4) and the company paid him mileage. I'm not sure of the ins and outs but it saved him a huge chunk of money.

I take your point that most employers now don't give a damn for their staff and if you have a job you can consider yourself lucky. As a former employer I find that attitude strange as it hardly instills any loyalty in employees and having unhappy staff comes back upon the company in the long run.
Perhaps your employer would be prepared to consider only paying you mileage if you bought your own car which was acceptable to the company and presentable to customers.

[Andyvon]

I don't think you can be taxed less for only using the car for business - even if you could prove it. The government will squeeze every penny they can from you. I think they work along the lines that you have the vehicle available to you for personal use, even if you don't use it as such.
It's a bit like the TV licence. It won't be reduced if you only watch TV once a week. You have the option to watch it all the time so you are taxed accordingly. Company vehicles are the same. They are not a good idea today.

[Hawkwalk]

http://www.hmrc.gov.u...employee-guidance.htm

take a look here. I think the key phrase is "made available to you". As suggested, speak to HMRC directly for advice.

[bushbaby_de]

Can you not ask them to purchase the car as a company pool car rather than personal to you - that way you wouldn't have to pay the tax and it would be available to others to use when you are using your own car. Or negotiate a car user payment rather than them providing a vehicle directly, which you could use towards your own car of your choice?