SE23131 - Car benefits: accessories made available at the time the car is first made available; optional accessories not included in list price –add to price of the car

Section 168A(6) - (7) and Section 168B ICTA 1988

Before reading the text that follows this paragraph, ensure that you are familiar with

• the general introduction to the calculation of price of a car as regards a year at SE23100
• the flowchart setting out the steps involved in calculating the price of a car as regards a year at SE23100a.

Some optional accessories which are qualifying accessories will be made available with the car when it is first made available to the employee but a price will not have been published by the car's manufacturer, importer or distributor as the inclusive price for the sale of such an accessory with a car on the relevant date. For example a compact disc player which is produced by an independent manufacturer and does not feature in the car price list may be supplied and fitted by the motor dealer before the car is first made available to the employee.

Such accessories are ignored for the purposes of calculating the list price of the relevant car but their price is added to the list price of the car to calculate the “price of the car as regards the year” for calculating the benefit charge.

For this purpose, the price of the accessory is either

• its list price if it has one, or
• its notional price if it has no list price.

See example SE23185 for an example of how the price of a car is calculated – including how accessories are taken into account.