EIM22900 - Van fuel benefit from 2005/06: introduction

Section 160 ITEPA 2003

From 2005/06 onwards, van fuel benefit is incurred whenever:

• any fuel is provided (see EIM23751), whether or not for private use
• for a van for which the restricted private use condition ( EIM22795) is not met.

The charge is in addition to the relevant van benefit charge and operates in a very similar way to the car fuel benefit charge; see EIM22905 for similarities and EIM22910 for the few differences.

Note that van fuel benefit is not incurred if either of the above conditions is not met, that is if either:

• the restricted private use condition is met for that employee in relation to that van, or
• no fuel at all is provided for any purpose.

Cash equivalent

See EIM22915 (but note that the cash equivalent is reduced to nil if the employee pays for all their private fuel, EIM22920).

Reduction in van benefit to nil – effect on van fuel benefit charge

Note that it is possible for the van fuel benefit charge to be incurred even if there is no taxable amount of van benefit. For example, where the restricted private use condition is not met in relation to a van, the cash equivalent of that van benefit might be reduced to nil as a result of payments made by the director or employee for the private use of the van (see EIM22840).

Index to guidance on van fuel benefit

Van fuel benefit is included in the van benefit index at EIM22700.

Example

See EIM22980.

2005/06 and 2006/07

Because the van fuel benefit charge is nil for these two years, its existence can effectively be ignored until 2007/08.

Years prior to 2005/06

There was no separate charge for van fuel before 2005/06 because the benefit was covered by the van benefit charge, see EIM22068.