The latest HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) statistics have been published for company car and fuel benefits in kind (BiK) in 2017 to 2018.
The number of company car taxpayers has fallen from 940,000 in 2016-17 to 900,000 in 2018-19. The company car tax burden has risen from £1.55bn to £1.73bn over the same period (12% rise over two years and an apparent 7% fall in those paying it).
98% of company cars in 2017-18 reported emissions of less than 165 g/km. This group contributed 93% of tax and 94% of NIC liability. 75% of company cars used diesel fuel (down from 79% in 2016-17) with about 25% using other fuel types, predominantly petrol.
Comparisons over time are made difficult by incompleteness arising from the introduction of voluntary payrolling in April 2016. For two years (2016-17 and 2017-18) there was no requirement to report voluntarily payrolled cars. Reporting is now required, but there is still under-reporting, and initial analysis suggests this may account for a large part of the reduction in cars since 2015-16. The BVRLA would like to hear from members that have any insight on whether issues with reporting company cars has led to the significant reduction in those reported as paying BiK. Contact [email protected].
