05/06/20 Can you “Furlough” the Company Car?
During the lockdown period many employees and Directors have not been using their company cars and instead the vehicles have been sitting on driveways.
Unfortunately that does not mean you have not had the benefit of a company car unless employees have been able to virtually hand the car back to their employer – by posting their keys, for example.
If you keep the keys, regardless of the car being sat on the driveway HMRC will argue it was available for you to use, so for any reduction in Benefits in Kind you would need to prove to HMRC and satisfy them that you did not have access to the car during the 30 day period.
HMRC will continue to regard the car as available to the employee/Director unless the keys or fobs are returned to the employer or to a third party as instructed by the employer.
