The BVRLA has written to HM Treasury ahead of the Spring Budget to outline what the Chancellor must do for the vehicle rental, leasing and fleet sectors to support recovery.
In its pre-Budget submission, the BVRLA urges the Chancellor to take three clear measures:
- Freeze Vehicle Excise Duty until April 2022 – Covid-19 saw the tourism and leisure market fall off a cliff, losing around 40% of the vehicle rental sector’s annual transactions. A freeze in VED would support this hard-hit sector and would help firms’ cashflow and protect jobs.
- Clarify company car tax rates up to 2025-26 – Both leasing firms and their customers need long-term clarity to calculate affordability of a lease contract, which could be 4-years in length. Clarity and certainty around the future Benefit-in-Kind rates for battery electric vehicles is also going to be vital to successfully driving the uptake of zero-emission vehicles.
- Expand green investment tax allowance – The full cost of investing in workplace charging infrastructure is a barrier for many fleets. Although businesses can offset the cost of charge points to reduce their tax liability, they cannot offset the full cost including groundworks, installation, and grid upgrade. This needs to change to incentivise private investment into expanding the UK’s charging infrastructure.
BVRLA Chief Executive Gerry Keaney said: “This Budget is an opportunity for the Chancellor to introduce measures that will give the fleet industry the confidence to invest, create jobs, and support economic recovery.”
Read the full press release issued 19 January: Budget must provide certainty to boost confidence, says BVRLA.
