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Home : Motoring Advice : Motoring Costs : Company Car Tax : Assumptions & Exclusions :

Assumptions and Exclusions

What we have not included in our calculators

Inland Revenue company car tax rules are complicated, largely because they've been designed to address a wide range of special cases and unusual circumstances.

We've kept our calculators as simple and as easy to use as possible. We've opted not to include special cases such as:

• Cars with no official CO ₂ emission data
• Cars with no list price
• Second company cars
• Classic cars
• Disabled drivers who use automatic transmission
• Discounts for alternative fuel vehicles

See below for more information on these exceptions.
(For further advice on any of these cases consult your financial advisor or visit www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk)

Cars with no official CO₂ emission data

Since April 2002 company car tax has been based on official CO₂ emissions data. We have assumed that an official CO₂ emissions value is available and have calculated the taxable benefit accordingly.

For cars with no official CO₂ emissions data the percentage of the car's list price used for tax is based on the engine size. There are two scales: one for cars registered before 1998 and the other for cars registered from 1998 onwards.

Cars with no cylinder capacity are taxed at the >2001cc rate.

Cars with no list price

If there was no official UK list price at the time the car was first registered then a notional list price is used. This is the price that might reasonably have been expected to be the UK list price. Contact the Inland Revenue for further information.

Second company car

Since April 2002 a second car has been taxed just like the first car.

Classic cars

Is your car over 15 years old? Is it worth more than £15,000? Is its market value more than its list price at first registration? These are treated as special cases. Contact the Inland Revenue for more information.

Disabled drivers who use automatic transmission

If, as a result of a disability, you have to drive an automatic then the price for tax purposes is taken to be the price of the equivalent manual version if the automatic version is more expensive.

Car available for only part of the year

If the car is unavailable for any part of the tax year, then the tax is reduced proportionately. The AA calculators are based on whole tax years only.

Discounts for alternative fuel vehicles

Since April 2002 discounts reduce the CO₂ emissions based charge for battery electric, hybrid electric, LPG or CNG cars registered in or after 1998.

Battery electric

Electric cars running solely on electricity attract the minimum percentage charge of 15% of the list price less a discount of 6% i.e. tax is charged on 9% of the list price.

Hybrid electric

Hybrid electric cars run on a combination of petrol and electricity. The discount is 2% of the price of your car. Plus there's an additional 1% discount for each full 20g/km your car falls below the CO₂ emissions level qualifying for the minimum charge for the year.

Cars using LPG or CNG

gas alone then the discount will be 1%. You will also get a further 1% for every full 20g/km of CO₂ emissions below the level qualifying for the minimum charge for the year.

For bi-fuel cars that use both gas and petrol, the discount depends on whether your car is type-approved for running on petrol and gas or a petrol car later converted to run on gas as well.

Cars built by manufacturers after 1 January 2000 to run on both petrol and gas will have approved CO₂ figures for both fuels. For these, the benefit is calculated using the full list price and the percentage that applies to the gas CO₂ emissions figure. The discount is 1% plus an additional 1% for each full 20g/km that the CO₂ emissions is below the level qualifying for the minimum charge for the year.

Cars first registered before 1 January 2000 and petrol cars converted to use gas as well as petrol after type approval will have an official CO₂ emissions figure for petrol only. For these the benefit is based on the list price for the petrol only model and the petrol CO₂ emissions figure. A discount of 1% of the list price applies.