Switching from personal to Company/Director car. Insurance implications.

[WannabeOwner]

And what about charging costs? Can they be attributed to the company, or does the standard 45p/mile come into play here?

A previous company car was on the basis that I fuelled it, but charged the company for business mileage. Dunno if that sort of arrangement still stands and IF you could use a Petrol-equivalent figure, even though you fuel it on E7?

If you are one-man-band then:

if you have an office maybe you can charge it (mostly) there? Probably supposed to record such fuel usage, but I imagine that many people don't bother.

if you are working "from home" do you have "part of home as office" and split some costs accordingly? If so presumably you could have the company pay for the proportion of electricity. If your EV charging point is not separately metered you could probably use TeslaFi to accurately tell you exactly how many units you used when charging at THAT location (or at several locations, if that is relevant), and then apportion cost from there. You've then got your private mileage to take into account ... but presumably that's no different to whatever you do now (e.g. log business trips and charge the company 45P a mile, so you'll still log business trips and those figures could then be used to say that XX% of the total mileage was business)

My accountant told me that some self employed people are now expected to treat travel-to-client as being the same as personal-travel-to-work, so NOT an expense, particularly if its a regular arrangement ("Every Tuesday to Client-A, and on Thursdays its Client-B"), so beware if you might fall of that. Irregular visits to clients seem to fall outside that net, and presumably if your visits are to Lands End and John O'Groats there must come a point when they aren't "personal travel to work"

I figure that on E7, and some Supercharging, an EV is about £100 a month cheaper than Petrol/Diesel for every 10,000 miles a year you drive. At 25,000 miles a year that's around a £3,000 saving on fuel for me, so actually trying to charge something back seems less important - I'm probably better off using the time to earn some more money rather than accounting for it!

 

[doublebo7]

The pricing structure on the tesla web site is inadequate and misleading. The two figures don't relate to the gov incentive just petrol savings. Tesla really need to show the full price just w do.

I am also not happy that my deposit had a vat element already built in to it. I would have expected a reduction of the full amount that I gave tesla

 

[WannabeOwner]

I am also not happy that my deposit had a vat element already built in to it.

I'm no expert, but I can't see how a corporation can "transact" with you without charging you VAT?

 

[culverwood]

As far as I know electricity supplied to employees is not included as a benefit in the same way as petrol.

"When is a fuel not a fuel?
When it's electricity and you're using it to power an electric car, that's when.

A director or employee who is provided with a company car and receives free fuel will be taxed on this as a benefit in kind. Fuel benefit is also based on CO2 emissions and fuel type. BUT the government do not consider electricity to be a fuel for the purposes: "Car Fuel Benefit Charge - as electricity is not a fuel, there is currently no fuel benefit charge." This is great news if your company pays for your electric 'fuel'. A company can have an electric charging station at their offices and there is no benefit in kind tax for any employee that uses it to charge their car. So, potentially driving to work and back home again could be on pure electricity and there is no tax charge!

Which raises the question: should an employee that reimburses their employer for private mileage (to avoid Benefit in Kind on fuel) have to reimburse the employer for the electric miles (EV miles) to avoid Benefit in Kind tax on fuel?
Well the answer from HMRC is a resounding 'No' as electricity is not a fuel. Even if you charge your car at your work and then use that charge for personal mileage, as electric is not regarded as a fuel there is no BiK charge on that usage."

 

[Dazboj]

That is very interesting, thanks.

I'm wondering what happens with the grey area where you run your company and work from home.
Can I get the company to cover some of the electricity bill to cover car charging.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Can I get the company to cover some of the electricity bill to cover car charging.

I work from home, and part of my home is charged as office (couple of additional employees here too during the day) - that's a proportion of Electricity, and Heating costs, as well as wear and tear on carpets and repainting etc.. My accountant was careful so that there wasn't a CGT issue (or if there is, its minimal) because part of the house has had some sort of business use - so watch out at that end of the scale. In my case I'm self-employed, so dunno about one-man-band and a corporation working from home.

If in doubt I would suggest recording both "fuel costs" and "business/private mileage distances/proportions" and then if need be the actual business use can be calculated - should be hard for Revenue to argue with that portion, as a starting point at least.

 

[Alkali]

Don't forget, if you happen to be a partner of an LLP (like law firms often are) there should be no BIK. 100% expensed in year one + no BIK = happiness.