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Reporting Company Cars to HMRC

When you provide a company car to an employee or director for their private use, you must report this to HMRC and meet specific deadlines. This includes registering new cars, reporting when you stop providing them, and understanding what counts as private use in the first place.

What counts as a company car benefit

You must tell HMRC if you make cars available for private use by company directors or employees. Private use includes employees' journeys between home and work, unless they're travelling to a temporary place of work. This means the daily commute counts as private use and must be reported.

When you don't need to report

You do not need to tell HMRC about:

Pool cars — vehicles used by more than one employee for business purposes and normally kept on your business premises
Adapted vehicles — cars adapted for use by employees with a disability, where the only private use is for journeys between home and work
Emergency vehicles — vehicles used only by on-call employees of the police, fire and rescue, ambulance or paramedic services

What you need to report

You must send a P46 (Car) form to HMRC when you:

Provide company cars to your employees or directors
Stop providing a company car
Provide someone with an additional car
Replace an existing company car

Information you'll need

Before you start, gather the following information:

Employer's full name, telephone number and PAYE reference
Employee's or director's full name and National Insurance number
Vehicle details, including CO2 emissions

Special requirements for certain vehicles

For diesel cars meeting Euro standard 6d: These are also known as Real Driving Emissions 2 (RDE2) compliant diesel cars. When reporting these vehicles, select 'Fuel Type F'. For cars manufactured after September 2018, you can check if they meet this standard using the DVLA online Vehicle Enquiry Service. For cars registered from 1 September 2018 onwards, the Euro standard 6d information appears on form V5C (vehicle log book).

For low emission vehicles: If a car has a CO2 figure of 1g to 50g per km, you must provide the car's zero emission mileage. This is the maximum distance in miles that can be driven in electric mode without recharging the battery. You can obtain this information from your car leasing firm or fleet provider. If you own the vehicle, you'll find the zero emission mileage figure on the vehicle's certificate of conformity.

How to report

You have three options for reporting company cars:

1. Use the online service — sign in to HMRC's digital forms service (you can create sign-in details if you don't already have them)

2. Use HMRC's PAYE Online service for employers

3. Use your payroll software (if it supports this function)

If you cannot report online, you can fill in form P46 (Car) on-screen, print it, and post it to HMRC using the postal address shown on the form. Note that you cannot save your progress when filling in the form, so gather all your information before you start.

Replacing a company car

If you've replaced a company car, you can report this using HMRC's PAYE Online service, your payroll software, or include it on your end-of-year forms.

Reporting deadlines

The deadline for reporting depends on when the change takes place. You must report by these dates:

| When the change takes place | Deadline for electronic form | Deadline for printed form |

|---|---|---|

| 6 January to 5 April | 5 April | 3 May |

| 6 April to 5 July | 2 August | 2 August |

| 6 July to 5 October | 2 November | 2 November |

| 6 October to 5 January | 2 February | 2 February |

Note that changes made between 6 January and 5 April have a shorter deadline if you're filing electronically (5 April) compared to printed forms (3 May).

End-of-year reporting

In addition to notifying HMRC when you provide or withdraw a company car, you must also report the benefit on your end-of-year forms and pay Class 1A National Insurance on the value of the car benefit. Class 1A National Insurance is a tax that employers pay on benefits provided to employees.

Sources

This article provides general guidance based on current HMRC rules. For advice specific to your situation, speak to your accountant.

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