Tusker CEO: 'Finally, some good news about car salary sacrifice'

When the Government announced its intention to reform the tax treatment of salary sacrifice schemes in the 2016 Autumn Statement, many feared that this would have a drastic impact on both company car drivers and the UK car industry.

However, as David Hosking, CEO of Tusker explains, from his conversations with HMRC and HM Treasury, it has been made clear that the Government wanted to do two things; firstly, to lower emissions of cars in the UK overall and secondly, protect the UK car industry.

But, there still remains uncertainty around how the legislation should be applied. Hosking explains: “There are two main parts to the legislation. One has been well publicised but the second, I believe, has been overlooked by many in the industry. Firstly, in last year’s Autumn statement, Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (those with emissions of 75g/km of CO2 or less) were made exempt from any tax changes.

“Then, in the subsequent Finance Act, published on March 20th 2017, it was made clear that the comparison of the benefit in kind was to the amount sacrificed for the car itself (i.e. excluding, as was the case under the previous system, maintenance, tyres, roadside assistance, and the like).