Taxable benefit on Zipcar account

Taxable benefit on Zipcar account

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A client has asked if a Zipcar account used by staff privately will attract a taxable benefit.

http://www.zipcar.co.uk/ 

The company will buy blocks of time and staff can use a zipcar for both business and private purposes.

I realise that the private element will give rise to a taxable benefit but would this be calculated using the normal company car rules?  A Zipcar can be hired for periods of time from 1 hour to 7 days which would complicate any car benefit calculations.

Members opinions on this will be gratefully received.

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Teignmouth
By Paul Scholes
16th Oct 2012 10:27

Think so

Firstly, a client uses Zipcars and they are such a good idea, wish I'd known about them when I changed cars earlier this year, could have saved myself a lot of money.

I'm sure that how a company gets hold of a car is not of relevance here, it's the fact it makes it available to the employee that generates a potential benefit.

What you might like to consider however is whether, if cars are booked in blocks with no specific employee in mind, they may be regarded as pool cars?

Have a look at the specific section on HMRC website to see whether this would apply, or the employer could change the rules to make it apply.  In suuch a case, if any private mileage was just incidental to the business mileage, no charge would arise.

As far as frequent changes being a pain to calculate, I know there's an averaging arrangement for the motor industry (link on same page) but not sure if that could also be applied.  The old rules may still apply where you would pick a car that represented the average that an employee may drive and stick with that, if all else fails I'd call the helpline on this aspect.

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