GPS Solutions

Van Tax: The Complete Guide

Adam Casey — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:26:00 GMT

Each month we receive lots of visitors to our website who are searching for information about UK van tax legislation, so we thought it would be useful to put together a concise guide to UK van tax law.

The post has been split into sections, so you can quickly skip to the section relevant to you. To do this simply click on any of the links below:

Will I pay tax on a company van?
How much is commercial van tax?
How to calculate your van tax
How can I reduce van tax owed?
How to reduce your van tax bill to zero
How to report on van usage the quick and easy way
Useful van tax resources

Will I pay tax on a company van?

Van tax is classified as a benefit-in-kind taxation and is due when the following circumstances are true:

"A van is provided for work purposes to a director or an employee (This includes for use by a member of their family or household) where the employee earns £8,500 per year or more and that van is available for private non business related use."

Definitions:

What's classed as a van?
A vehicle built primarily to carry goods or other loads which has a maximum laden weight of up to 3,500 kilograms. (Also known as the 'manufacturer's plated weight, which can usually be found on a plate attached to the vehicle.)

NOTE: You will not have to pay tax on Van's that weight over 3,500kg on any private use, unless the vehicle is wholly or mainly used for private travel.

What's classed as business use?
There are 3 types of journeys that are classed as non taxable business use.

Business Journeys - journeys you have to make in the course of doing your job.

Ordinary Commuting -Travel to and from your home to your place of work.

Insignificant private use beyond ordinary commuting - making a slight detour to purchase a newspaper or drop children off at school on your way to work.

What is classed as private use?
Private use is when you use the van for anything other than business travel. Examples given on the HMRC website include an employee using a van to do their weekly shopping or using it while on holiday or to transport family or friends to a social event.

Van tax on fuel usage
An additional tax charge is owed if free or subsidised fuel is provided for the private use of the company van. The tax is normally collected through the employee’s Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax code.

What about pool vans?
Vans used as pool vans that meet the following criteria are not require to report or pay tax:

Used by more than one employee
Not ordinarily used by one employee to the exclusion of others
Not normally kept at or near employees' homes
Used only for business journeys (A limited amount of incidental private use is allowed. Example: commuting home with the van to allow an early start to a business journey the next morning)

Source: HMRC

How much is commercial van tax?

Employees will pay van tax charges based on:

Standard flat reportable value for a van is currently £3,000 *
Van fuel benefit charge for 2012 is £550

* For tax years 10/11 to 14/15 inclusive, tax on vans with zero CO2 emissions have been reduce to zero.

Employer's will be required to pay Class 1A NICs contributions of:

Van Tax = £414
Van Fuel Benefit = £75.90

Additional charges can be made if:

Fuel is provided for a van for which the restricted private use condition is not met.
See further details here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ eimanual/EIM22900.htm

Exceptionally, expense are incurred by or on behalf of the employer in providing a driver for the van. See further details here: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ eimanual/EIM21001.htm

How to calculate your van tax

To calculate the amount of tax you would be required to pay depends on your current earnings, please see the breakdown below.

Van Benefit Tax

Benefit in kind = £3,000
Basic rate tax payable at 20% = £600 a year.
Higher rate tax payable at 40% = £1200 per year.

Fuel Benefit Tax

Benefit in kind = £550
Basic rate tax payable at 20% = £110 a year.
Higher rate tax payable at 40% = £220 per year.

How can I reduce the amount of van tax I have to pay?

You can reduce the amount of tax owed, if any of the following are true:

the van is unavailable for part of the year
the van is shared for some or all of the year
the employee makes payments for the private use of the van

How to calculating a reduction in van tax owed:

Below are a few examples of how to calculate your van tax reductions:

1. When a van is shared, the amount of tax owed should be determined by working out the percentage that each employee used the van.

So based on two employees sharing a van; who are both on the basic rate of tax.
The total van tax figure owed would be £600.
If Employee A had used the van for 60% of the time and Employee B used it for the remaining 40% of the time.
Then Employee A will pay £360 and Employee B will pay the remaining £240.

2. If there has been a period where the van was not made available to Employee A for a period of 56 days then the following reduction can be made:

£360 x 309/365 = £304.77

Based on this formula:

CE x (Y-D)
Y

Where:

CE is the amount of the cash equivalent before any reduction (i.e. for a full year)
Y is the number of days in the tax year in question
D is the total number of days on which either the van is unavailable or after provided fuel is finally withdrawn.

Resource: (http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM22980.htm)

3. When payments have been made by an employee towards the costs of private use:

The amount chargeable is reduced pound for pound by the amount which the employee is required to pay, and actually pays, for private use of the van. This adjustment is made after any reduction because the van is shared.

So using the example of Employee A if he had agreed to pay £100 towards fuel costs.
Then his final bill would be:

£304.77 - £100 = £204.77

How to reduce your van tax bill to zero

Employers must be able to show HMRC that their employees have not been using the van for private use in order to reduce their tax bill to nil.

Employee could be asked to:

Keep mileage Records
Sign an agreement about the use of the van
have use of the van put into a contract of employment

Employers are required to:

If an employer considers there is no tax to pay, they will need to keep sufficient milage records to show that the employee has the van mainly for work journeys and that private use is restricted to journeys between work and home.

If there is tax to pay, the employer will have to provide records identifying each van used by an employee. If the employer also believes that the tax owed is less than the full amount. They will also need to provide documentation on who shared the van and in what proportion. If the van was unusable for a period of 30 days then proof of this would also be required.
Any contributions paid by the employee towards the private use of the van.
Proof that private fuel has been fully reimbursed.

How to report on van usage the quick & easy way.

As you can see in order to save yourself a large tax bill you will need to keep a detailed list of van usage, mileage reports and payments made which can quickly become a time consuming job when you have a large fleet of vehicles. So how can you prove that company vans are not being used for personal journeys quickly and efficiently?

One option would be to fit Crystal Ball's GPS vehicle tracking units to your vehicles, with this you would be able to provide detailed journey reports for your vehicles in and out of working hours. And with our Driver ID solution, you'd also be able to identify each employee even if they did share a van or use multiple vans.

GPS vehicle tracking units are fitted to the van and will start to transmit the location of the vehicle as soon as the ignition is switched on. This data is logged on our servers and can be printed off in a report format that you can present to the Tax Office in order to claim these reductions in your tax contributions.

To take advantage of a FREE 30 day trial of our vehicle tracking software click the link below:

Useful van tax resources:

We hope this post has covered all the questions you may have with regards to Van Tax, however if you have any that have gone unanswered please do leave a comment below and we'll do our best to help answer them.

Disclaimer: This post is for information purposes only, due to the ever changing nature of tax laws, the content in this blog could at some point contain outdated information. None of the content from this blog, including comments posted from our visitors, should be used as a substitute for advice from a professional tax advisor. We welcome your feedback, so should you spot an error please highlight this to us and we'll update the post accordingly.

E&OE

Tablets the perfect accessory for field sales reps

Adam Casey — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:33:00 GMT

The work place is not the same as it was 10 – 15 years ago, things have changed dramatically and one of the paradigm shifts is the inclusion of mobile technology in the day to day operations of businesses.

According to predictions from Transparency Market Research tablet sales are expected to grow 38.8% and hit approximately 248.6 million units sold by 2015. It is not surprising as Tablets are now a necessity for many employees especially for those that spend a lot of time out of the office.

Tablets have revolutionised the way people work when they’re away from the office making employees more efficient and productive, field sales reps is one profession where tablets are being used to enhance performance.

Firstly tablets are helping field reps with communication, with a tablet you’re constantly connected to your email account, Instant Messenger, Skype etc. allowing reps to keep updated with pricing, stock and crucial information that can make a big difference when closing a sale. With your tablet synced to your email you can also manage your calendar effectively giving ample time to prepare for important client meetings. Teleconferencing tools such as Skype give reps the ability to be present at important meetings back in the office that could influence your appointments.

Secondly tablets are making field reps more productive using apps you can connect to the office, your CRM and project management tools. One example is Go to My PC and allows sales reps to access files from the office such as up to date deals and pricing information. Another example is Salesforce and their suite of apps giving you access to a CRM and client data while on the move, helping personalise your sales pitch. By utilising cloud services such as Salesforce you can drive real value and insight in client meetings.

Thirdly the use of tablets give sales reps the ability to present a sense of professionalism by being well prepared for meetings. Tablets can also be used to deliver presentations giving you a distinct edge over competitors, this is especially crucial when one of your selling points focuses on professionalism and service.

While tablets may not suit every employees working style for a majority of sales reps they’re bound to help with operations and performance.

Jon Smith is an e-Marketing Specialist for Insight UK a leading provider of IT services & solutions.

How to track a mobile phone - Infographic

Adam Casey — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:20:00 GMT

The image above illustrates how you can track a mobile phone using a smart phone, GPS technology and Crystal Ball's Mobile Track business application.

However the image only shows a few of the features available with Mobile Track. Once installed the application transmits rich location based data back to our web based platform in real-time. Our web platform displays your assets location and it's powerful reporting system gives you access to valuable business intelligence, required to drive change and improve productivity and reduce costs.

Smart phone fleet tracking

Mobile Track is a viable alternative to traditional black box vehicle tracking which is fast becoming a vital tool for Business owners, Fleet, Facilities and Operations managers looking for greater visibility and detailed location based data on their fleets journeys. The benefits of which include, improved customer service, reduction in fuel costs, reduction in administration work, improved productivity and accountability.

If you would like to see for yourself how Mobile Track can help improve your business productivity and help reduce your operating costs, then why not take advantage of our free 30 day mobile phone tracking trial.

If you have any questions or comments about our image above, we'd love to hear them. Please leave us your feedback below.

Texting while driving... ‘more dangerous than drink driving’

Adam Casey — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:49:00 GMT

A new report has been published this month by the Institute of Advanced Motorists, which underlines the increasing role of smartphone use in car accidents. The statistics make for alarming reading.

It is estimated that using smartphones whilst driving is actually more dangerous than the driver drinking or having smoked cannabis before driving.

These conclusions were arrived at by measuring the reaction times of drivers using a simulator, and measuring reaction times of young drivers whilst using social networking devices during driving tasks. Using facebook whilst driving affected all drivers adversely.

Driver’s reaction times were slowed down by around 38% and it was noted that important driving events and situations were missed. For example, it was observed that drivers found it harder to maintain a central lane position, resulting in them deviating from their correct lane. More alarming still was the observation that drivers using smartphones were unable to respond as quickly as was safe to the car in front of them changing speed. These higher-level concentration actions were seriously impaired.

Death By Text
The danger of texting whilst driving has been known about for some years. Baron Ahmed of Rotherham, the first Muslim Peer in the House of Lords, was severely reprimanded for texting whilst driving at over 60 mph, and later becoming involved in an accident in which a man died.

On 14 November 2010 a solider who had survived two tours of Afghanistan was killed when a Plumber's van veered into her path on the B1188 near Lincoln. Phone logs from the emergency services and the drivers facebook page updates showed that minutes before the collision on the B1188 near Lincoln, the driver of the van Paul Mould, had posted a message on his Facebook page thanking his friends for their birthday wishes. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053445/Woman-soldier-killed-driver-updating-Facebook-page-surviving-duty-Afghanistan.html#ixzz1qDeweD7z

Social Censure
The IAM report demonstrated that reaction times were slowed by 37.6 % when using a smartphone for social networking. Texting fared little better, reducing reaction times by 37.4%. Even a hands free conversation slowed reactions by 26.5 %, which in itself is more than the slowing measured for cannabis abuse, which slowed reactions by 21%. Alcohol comes out of the tests with a comparatively conservative result, with above UK drink driving level alcohol use slowing reaction times by 6 – 15%, and within the legal drink driving level reducing reaction times by 12.5%

The IAM report has led to a call for smartphone usage to become as socially unacceptable as drink driving, and failure to use a safety belt. Both of these issues have been pushed up the political agenda by sustained information campaigns, and the IAM hope the same level of social censure can be achieved by highlighting the dangers of smartphone use whilst driving.
These findings bring into question the whole relationship we have with phones and cars, as they clearly pose more of a threat to road safety than alcohol.

New Awareness Campaign
In the same way that social pressure will discourage people from drink driving, the hope is that social media itself can provide the pressure for drivers to stop social network usage whilst behind the wheel. The IAM is hoping for phone manufacturers to take the lead in spearheading a new campaign to spread the word about smartphone dangers. Teenagers are at the highest risk, being the category of drivers most likely to have accidents, and also being the social group most likely to be using social networking. IAM chief executive Simon Best said,
“Young people have grown up with smartphones and using them is part of everyday life. But more work needs to be done by the government and social network providers to show young people that they are risking their lives and the lives of others if they use their smartphones while driving.”

It is essential that the government, manufacturers, the media and businesses educate employees on the perils of social networking and texting whilst driving. Let’s hope that stories like that of Paul Mold serve as a stark reminder of what is at stake.

This is a guest post from Christine Jenson is a professional writer from England who covers many causes including drink driving insurance and how to improve road safety. The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Crystal Ball Ltd.

Mobile Track is Crystal Ball's mobile phone based tracking solution that can help companies monitor and be alerted when their drivers are using their handsets out of hands free mode whilst driving.

Another great resource for health and safety professionals

Adam Casey — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:25:00 GMT

Health and safety Executives have a million and one things to keep abreast of in the ever- changing landscape that is the health and safety industry. So having access to a reliable online resource when you need to discover the latest industry news is always a bonus.

Which is why Crystal Ball is excited to be featured on one of the latest online resource in the Health and Safety industry: 1stsafetynews.com

We spoke to the owner Paul Collins who is gave us an insight into where he see's the website fitting into the health and safety arena.

"My aim is to build the best health and safety website for the industry that can be accessed by anyone around the world, we have a way to go yet but the next page will be the Industry Jobs"

So if you're in the health and safety industry then head over to the 1stSafetyNews website now and make sure you bookmark it for future reference as we think is could well become an invaluable health and safety directory.

1stSafetyNews has listed Crystal Ball's lone worker protection solution Mobile LWP in websites health and safety solution providers directory. Take a free, no-obligation, 30 day trial of our Mobile LWP solution.

Health & safety events UK - March 2012

Adam Casey — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:02:00 GMT

Check out the lone working events going on across the UK over the next three months:

Event: Behaviour Based Safety
Date: 7 March, 2012
Venue: MWB Meeting Rooms, 10 Greycoat Place, London SW1P 2QX
Site: http://www.bqf.org.uk/event/behavioural-safety

Event: Health and Safety Policy and Risk Assessment
Date: 08 March 2012, 13:00 - 15:00
Venue: Labour Relations Agency - Regional Office,Londonderry,BT48 6BB
Site: http://www.events.businesslink.gov.uk/events/health-and-safety-policy-and-risk-assessment--1
Event: Beyond Safety Culture: Improving behaviours in your organisation
Date: 14th March 2012
Venue: Manchester Conference Centre, Weston Building, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3BB
Site: http://www.hsl.gov.uk/health-and-safety-training-courses/beyond-safety-culture-improving-behaviours-in-your-organisation-%28seminar-in-manchester%29.aspx
Event: WISEUP 2012 Protecting People and Safeguarding Business
Date: 20 March 2012
Venue: The Barton Grange Hotel and Conference Centre, Preston
Site: http://www.lohsg.co.uk/?p=367
Event: Safer Lone Working - Suzy Lamplugh Trust
Date: March 27, 2012
Venue: Belfast Metropolitan College, Titanic Quarter, Belfast
Site: http://www.suzylamplugh.org/lone-worker/safer-lone-working-conference/

Event: Workplace Driving - Manchester Occupational Health & Safety Group
Date: March 28
Venue: AEC, Trafford Park, Manchester
Site: http://www.mohsg.org.uk/index.html
Event: RoSPA: Health and safety legal seminar - Getting it right when it all goes wrong
Date: March 28, 2012
Venue: ETC Venues – Prospero House, Central London
Site: http://www.rospa.com/events/legal/default.aspx

NB: If we've missed your event, please do leave you details in the comments section below and we'll update this post.

How to monitor text messages with Mobile Monitor

Adam Casey — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:36:00 GMT

One area of mobile phone tracking we frequently receive questions about is, how to monitor text messages? These enquiries vary from HR departments concerned with the Equalities Act to Professionals who bill by the hour for consultancy services wanting to get a clearer understanding of how much time their clients are using.

In this blog post we'll take you through the process of monitoring your mobile with Crystal Ball's Mobile Monitor system, which tracks all text message activity made to and from a tracked handset as well as logging the full content of those messages.

What do you require to monitor text messages on a mobile?

1. A Crystal Ball supported mobile phone handset

2. A data service as part of your mobile phone contract.

3. Our mobile monitor software installed and running on the handset.

(Don't have Mobile Monitor? Check out our free 30 day trial)

So once you have these three things in place you're ready to track text messages to and from your mobile phone.

How does Mobile Monitor collect the data?

The application sits on a users handset and monitors all text message activity and passes that information via GPRS to the Crystal Ball system in real time.

What does the text message monitoring reports look like?

Once you've received some text messages you'll be able to login to Crystal Ball's online software to run text log report to see how many text messages has been sent, who sent them and what was said in those messages.

Below is an example report:

If you can track text messages, can you also track mobile phone calls?

Yes, as well as monitoring text messages Mobile Monitor gives you the ability to monitor (in real time) all inbound and outbound calls made to the handset. The information is passed across to the crystal ball system at the end of the call. It also reports on any missed calls. Ideal if you can't wait until the end of the month to have your mobile company to send you your itemised billing.

Benefits of mobile phone monitoring:

Increase your accountability
Track your own productivity
Reduce non-business related call costs
Improve driver behaviour (alerts sent when users takes/makes calls while not in hands free mode)
Monitor equality in the workplace

So that's "How to monitor text messages with Mobile Monitor" answered.
We hope you found this post useful, however if you still have any further questions that went unanswered, please do post it below and we'll get back to you asap...

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Welcome to the all new Crystal Ball blog

Adam Casey — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 16:26:00 GMT

It's been a long time in the making but finally CrystalBall has it's very own blog. We finally have a voice with which to help, educate and enlighten our website visitors to the benefits of GPS tracking.

So what can you expect to see here over the coming weeks, months and years?

Well we decided to really get to grips with first educating non customers and secondly helping our current customers to extract the most amount of actionable business data from Crystal Ball's tracking solutions. So to begin with our content will be a mix of helpful tips and tricks when using our tracking software, useful user guides to driving down the costs of you fleet, as well as important updates on the latest technology break throughs in the Telematics industry.

But most importantly we want to open up the communication channels with our website visitors and current customers. So don't be shy, make sure you say hello , we want you to use our blog to pick the brains of our friendly support staff and developers.

If you'd like to keep up-to-date with everything that's happening at Crystal Ball then make sure you subscribe to our RSS feed or you can follow us on our social media channels:

Leave us a comment below and let us know what you'd like to hear about in our coming blog posts...