Bike to work scheme

Bike to work scheme

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My client, a one man band company, is going to purchase a bike and has asked about the bike to work scheme.

He works from home and is on an annual PAYE scheme, paying himself a wage at the end of the year just above the NIC level - usual scenario.

Will the bike to work scheme work? He doesn't have to cycle to work because he works from home, and he doesn't have a monthly salary from which the salary sacrifice can be made.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

Replies (8)

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By The Iceni Warrior
28th Jul 2011 07:27

Mainly commuting

"Employees should use the bike mainly for commuting to and, if relevant, between work places (at least 50% of the bike’s use should be for work purposes). However, the bike can also be used for non-work purposes and there is no need for employers to monitor individual usage or for employees to keep a mileage log. Please note that employees cannot claim business mileage allowance with a bike that is being hired to them by their employer".

-- Iceni

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By Monsoon
28th Jul 2011 09:26

Salary sacrifice not necessary

(Or, declare £200 a year more than the optiumum and sacrifice that!).

I don't know whether you can get away with calling cycling from the garden shed to the back door "commuting" though!! The private use will likely outweigh the business use, unless he has other local work journeys to make on it. Probably a non-starter.

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By Ernest N Dever
28th Jul 2011 10:31

Actually it's "mainly for qualifying journeys"...

... and qualifying journeys include both personal commuting and business travel.

So if your client uses it to a reasonable extent for business purposes, it may qualify.  You can't also claim cycle mileage, because it will be a company bicycle, as has been previously noted.

The point that I really want to make though is that "mainly" relates to qualifying "journeys".  That, therefore, means that you're considering occasions of use, rather than miles travelled.  So if you made 3 one-mile (qualifying) business journeys during the week and took 2 fifty-mile (non-qualifying) recreational journeys at the weekend, there would be 5 journeys in total, of which qualifying journeys were in the majority.

See this recent thread for more information: https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/anyanswers/have-you-gone-cycle-work-scheme/514867

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Image is of a pin up style woman in a red dress with some of her skirt caught in the filing cabinet. She looks surprised.
By Monsoon
28th Jul 2011 10:54

If journeys....

The point that I really want to make though is that "mainly" relates to qualifying "journeys".  That, therefore, means that you're considering occasions of use, rather than miles travelled.  So if you made 3 one-mile (qualifying) business journeys during the week and took 2 fifty-mile (non-qualifying) recreational journeys at the weekend, there would be 5 journeys in total, of which qualifying journeys were in the majority.

Thank you for pointing this out.

If this is the case, then can he ride from the shed to the back door and back again every day to make this count?!?!

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By Ernest N Dever
28th Jul 2011 10:59

Personally...

... I wouldn't regard the shed to the back door as being sufficient to be a journey.  You are for all intents and purposes in exactly the same place, having never left it.

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By Phil Rees
28th Jul 2011 12:23

"You are for all intents and purposes in exactly the same place,

Ernest N Dever is clearly a reincarnation of Douglas Adams.

 

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By Ernest N Dever
28th Jul 2011 12:32

As it happens...

... I do always carry a towel!

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Woolpit Gus
By nutwood
28th Jul 2011 15:38

What intrigues me....

is why this director appears to live in the shed, but work in the house!

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