Any electric car drivers on here?

Marc

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Marc
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Anyone else know about the VAT treatment on an electric car with an element of Personal use?

My accountant has told me that if I purchase/Hire Purchase the car then I am unable to claim any of the input VAT. However on leasing I am able to claim back 50% of the input vat on the car and 100% on any maintnenece agreements.

Anyone else come across this question recently?
 

svensktoppen

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That's really one for the accountant, it gets really complicated very quickly :cool:

As a general rule, anything bought (purchase/hire purchase) on the business and reclaimed VAT can only be used for the business and cannot be used for private use.

But there are book keeping tricks and loopholes and all the rest of it.

Leasing via the company is right in the middle of the latter...
 

davyk31

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Marc said:
Anyone else know about the VAT treatment on an electric car with an element of Personal use?

My accountant has told me that if I purchase/Hire Purchase the car then I am unable to claim any of the input VAT. However on leasing I am able to claim back 50% of the input vat on the car and 100% on any maintnenece agreements.

Anyone else come across this question recently?
Click to expand...

Assume this is a car being bought by a company? If it is then your accountant is right and not just for an EV. Any company buying a car whatever way it’s powered cannot claim the VAT unless it’s totally for business use and they will insist on it being parked at nights at a business premises. For a lease car again whatever way it’s powered you can reclaim 50% of the VAT on the finance payment and 100% on maintenance charges. There is an emissions limit where the rules change but obviously that’s not an issue with an EV.
 

Marc

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davyk31 said:
Assume this is a car being bought by a company? If it is then your accountant is right and not just for an EV. Any company buying a car whatever way it’s powered cannot claim the VAT unless it’s totally for business use and they will insist on it being parked at nights at a business premises. For a lease car again whatever way it’s powered you can reclaim 50% of the VAT on the finance payment and 100% on maintenance charges. There is an emissions limit where the rules change but obviously that’s not an issue with an EV.
Click to expand...

Yes, I will be buying it through the business, I was just hoping make the man maths work on purchase rather than lease.

I just couldnt understand why he was saying it was different when leasing/purchasing, but having read the above and some Google foo he is correct.

I now need to adjust the spreadsheets to see which is more beneficial as in to purchase or lease. Its also tough determining the values at the end of the term, I can see that the residuals on all cars at the moment are crazy. If purchased you can claim 100% of the price in year one against CT instantly making it 19% cheaper up front and reducing your CT liability in the first year.

Back to the drawing board.
 

davyk31

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Yes you can claim 100% against CT in year one but when you sell you need to account for the value and payback tax at that time.

Also with the first year allowance being 100% there is nothing to put against tax in years 2 and 3 etc. With leasing you will have lease costs to put against CT all through the term.
The reason the lease car can reclaim VAT is because the lease company who own the cars buy them as the main purpose of their business hence it’s a business cost.

Given the huge discounts a lease company can achieve almost always higher than a private buyer can achieve and then with the VAT saving it’s hard to see how leasing won’t be the best route. A company wishing to purchase a car will normally be best buying used or nearly new if there is a substantial saving available.
 

adam1942

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I know charging is free at the minute in NI using public chargers but do you still need an RFID card? If so what/who does everyone use? We're going to Le Mans next year :party: and going to take the Kona. I'm looking at "ChargeMap" for the pass as they seem to support loads in UK&I as well as Europe.
 

svensktoppen

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You may need a couple of different ones for a long journey like that?

Enjoy LeMans, that's definitely one on the list of things to do :cool:
 

svensktoppen

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Sometimes things go wrong and something catches fire. A TV or a kettle or a car or whatever. Just one of those things. Don't think it's any more common for EV than any other type of car.
 

Deezer-D

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The wife picked this up today -

9821DCD1-E875-4625-9D65-C46D2120AB46.jpeg


Mini Level 2, White Silver, black roof, mirrors and wheels. Haven’t been allowed to drive it yet! Horrible day for pics but the colour is class in person. Glad she picked this over the grey and I’m a big Nardo fan.
Need to get on the ball and sort the charger and ESB card.
 

davyk31

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Looks great. I would have been tempted by the yellow mirrors as they set it out as being an electric mini and tie in with the S badges.
 

Mark Irwin

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Very nice colour combo on the Mini and once you get used to the driving experience it is very pleasant. I drove to Dundalk today from Dungannon and plugged in to one of the Rapid chargers to leave me plenty of range cushion. This experience is very different from the North with the charger working and much faster than any of the ones I have used up here. 20 minutes and we were good to go.
 

Deezer-D

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davyk31 said:
Looks great. I would have been tempted by the yellow mirrors as they set it out as being an electric mini and tie in with the S badges.
Click to expand...
We thought about the yellow mirror caps and the wheels with the yellow detail but the wife preferred the black and the wheels would be a balls to refurb when she kerbs them. Black wheels were the safer option.
Not sure my 15” winter wheels will fit so might have to sell them on. I’ll trial fit them first.
I’ll probably just end up changing the tyres to Michelin Cross Climate + at some stage as they’d be perfectly suited to her usage.
 

Gaz

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Subscribed. I'm a combustion engine dinosaur but sitting doing the maths last week as wife has access to company car scheme, and with the BIK on EVs it's hard to argue against it. She's always taken the allowance and had her own personal car but cutting out the fuel, insurance and maintenance costs would be a good saving on top of the other EV incentives. Plus she can charge at work so minimal impact on our electric costs at home.
 

davyk31

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Sounds like a no brainer for you Gaz, with the 1% BIK if someone can access an EV through their company it’s ideal. Problem can be getting one with supply shortages but that depends on what budget she has to work with.
 
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