One area where the UK is well beyond other countries around the world is in how cars are taxed.
In Great Britain, cars are taxed based not only on the book value of the car but also on how fuel efficient it is in terms of CO2 emissions. In other words, the fuel efficiency as well as the type of fuel used to operate the vehicle directly impacts the amount of tax to be paid.
Whether you are a business or private individual looking to calculate what the tax will be on a specific vehicle you can use a car tax calculator to find that amount quite quickly.
Using a Car Tax Calculator
If you are unfamiliar with car tax calculators, they are simply online programmes which walk you through a series of questions in order to calculate how much tax is owed on a given vehicle.
A car tax calculator usually begins with a screen that gives you an option as to whether the car is old or new. From there you will be asked the model and the fuel type. If it is an older vehicle you will be asked:
- Year of registration
- Month of registration
- Make
- Model
- Fuel Type
From there a drop down list may appear requiring you to make a further choice by derivative, CO2 g/km and fuel type again. The calculations are quite precise based on the exact car you are registering.
Company Car Tax
When it comes to company cars, the rate of tax that needs to be paid is different to personal vehicles.
There will be some questions which will not pertain to individuals when a business needs to calculate the tax on a vehicle. For example, sometimes employees make a one-off contribution towards the cost of the vehicle which will be calculated into the tax. By law there is a maximum of £5,000 which can be claimed for this. Then there is a fill-in box which will ask the amount of any annual contributions towards the car made by an employee.
As well, any options added to a new vehicle will need to be accounted for. Sometimes a company car tax calculator will give you a drop down menu so that you can choose these added options from a list or they may also give you a choice to insert the total amount of list price on automobile options. However, this particular field should be answered by both individuals as well as by companies because options do affect the tax due on the vehicle.
If you are new to using a company car tax calculator, don’t be overly concerned. They are easy to use because all you need to do is answer questions posted on the screen. Just make absolutely certain you know all the pertinent information about the vehicle, which can be extremely precise.
Not only will you need to know the list price of the vehicle, the list price of the options, the year/make/model, the type of fuel it uses, but you may also need to know the specifics about carbon emissions as well. However, once you have all that information in front of you it only takes a few minutes to calculate tax due on that particular vehicle. It couldn’t be easier.
