Fuel Benefit

Car fuel benefit

Any employee or company director, who is provided with a company car and fuel for private is liable to pay tax based on the fuel benefit.

This is based on a fixed sum of £18,800 from April 2011 and the benefit in kind is calculated by applying the percentage determined by the CO2 emission table below.

CO2 emissions Taxable % of list price
Rated in g/km 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13
0 0 0 0
1-75 5 5 5
76-99 10 10 10
100-104 10 10 11
105-109 10 10 12
110-114 10 10 13
115-119 10 10 14
120-124 15 15 15
125-129 15 15 16
130-135 15 16 17
135-139 16 17 18
140-144 17 18 19
145-149 18 19 20
150-154 19 20 21
155-159 20 21 22
160-164 21 22 23
165-169 22 23 24
170-174 23 24 25
175-179 24 25 26
180-184 25 26 27
185-189 26 27 28
190-194 27 28 29
195-199 28 29 30
200-204 29 30 31
205-209 30 31 32
210-214 31 32 33
215-219 32 33 34
220-224 33 34 35
225-229 34 35 35
230 or over 35 35 35

Diesel vehicles attract a 3% surcharge to the above figures, up to a maximum of 35%.

Example

An employee is provided with a new company car on 1st April 2010. The car is a new Audi A3 2.0 TDI Sport 3dr Manual, with a P11D price of £19,920 and CO2 emissions of 115g/km.

To calculate the car fuel benefit, we take the scale charge of £18,800 and multiply this by the equivalent percentage for the vehicle, above.

£18,800 x (10% + 3% diesel surcharge) = £2,340 taxable benefit per year.

To calculate how much tax the employee will pay per year, this figure is multiplied by the employees tax level:

For a 20% taxpayer:

£2,340.00 × 20% = £468.00 per year or £39.00 per month

For a 40% taxpayer:

2,340.00 × 40% = £936.00 per year or £78.00 per month