Advisory fuel rates from 1 December 2009
HMRC announced changes to the company car advisory fuel rates just a few days before they came into effect on 1 December 2009. This accords with HMRC’s recent announcement that they will no longer provide one month’s notice of changes to the advisory fuel rates.
HMRC acknowledge that employers making or collecting payments may not have been able to change their systems in time to use the new rates from 1 December. Employers are told to use their judgment as to whether to make or require a second payment in order to apply the new rate from its effective date. These advisory fuel rates are non-statutory and the professional bodies have advised HMRC that their members will not all be making adjustments to payments made at the old rates where there was insufficient time to revise processes due to the short notice of the changes.
However, employers should note that under the normal rules, employees are only able to avoid the car fuel benefit charge if the amount they repay in respect of private fuel at least equals the amounts based on the published rates.
Engine size | Petrol | Diesel | LPG |
1400cc or less | 11p | 11p | 7p |
1401cc to 2000cc | 14p | 11p | 8p |
Over 2000cc | 20p | 14p | 12p |
Petrol hybrid cars are treated as petrol cars for this purpose.
These figures can also be used for VAT purposes although businesses also need to retain fuel receipts.