Car fuel for private use - work out the value to use

The reportable value of fuel provided for private use in a company car is calculated as a percentage of a fixed sum - £18,800 in the tax year 2011-12, and £20,200 in the tax year 2012-13.

The percentage is the same as the one used to calculate car benefit - in general, it varies depending on the car's CO2 emissions.

The reportable figure for car fuel benefit can be reduced:

if a car is unavailable to an employee for a minimum of 30 consecutive days
if you withdrew the provision of fuel for private use during the year and didn't reinstate it

But you cannot make a reduction for the same day twice - that is, both as a day that the car was unavailable, and as a day after private fuel provision had been withdrawn.

Methods of working out the value to report

The easiest way to work out the value to report is to use one of the following electronic tools - these will do the calculations automatically for you:

HMRC's free 'Online Return and Forms - PAYE' service
the interactive form P11D (use the 'with save' option) which is part of HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools package
HMRC's company car and fuel benefit calculator
many commercial payroll software packages

Please note, however, that the first three of these tools won't calculate fuel benefit if both of the following apply:

the car has been unavailable for part of the year
private fuel provision has been withdrawn during the year

You can also calculate the reportable value manually. See P11D Working Sheet 2 for a step-by-step guide to the process - use the link in the 'More useful links' section.