LAST month’s Budget, George Osborne’s last of the current government, was overall fairly neutral when it comes to the company car driver and those companies operating company car fleets.
The next fuel duty increase, due in September, was scrapped, which is good news for all motorists who need to save money, whether they operate a fleet of vehicles or are a private individual.
LAST month’s Budget, George Osborne’s last of the current government, was overall fairly neutral when it comes to the company car driver and those companies operating company car fleets.
The next fuel duty increase, due in September, was scrapped, which is good news for all motorists who need to save money, whether they operate a fleet of vehicles or are a private individual. Mr Osborne claims that will save drivers £10 per tank at the pump, but you would need a very large fuel tank indeed to achieve that.
Vehicle Excise Duty, or road tax to you and me, will increase by RPI so it will creep up slowly, which is a negligible increase but to be expected.
There is a road-building programme already announced and under way worth £5.7bn which includes major trunk routes including the A1, M62 and the M1. I think that locally we would like that budget all ploughed into some overtime for the guys putting the new central barriers in on the M1 so we can get back to normal as soon as possible.
The Chancellor also recognised that he had inadvertently penalised drivers of Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) when increasing the benefit in kind (BIK) rates for company car drivers. The BIK is the percentage of list price that equals the salary amount that a company car driver is taxed on. Accordingly, this will increase at a lower rate than other vehicles going forward.
However… BIK rates are to be increased by two per cent per annum through to tax year 2018/19 as already previously announced, but in tax year 2019/20 the increase in BIK will rise to three per cent. Now 2019 seems a long way in the future, but if you are changing a car later this year on a four-year contract then part of that contract will be subject to the increased charge. It continues to be important to consider the CO2 emissions of the car you choose with an eye on your future tax liability.
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