HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have launched an online trial which allows company car drivers to make changes to car and fuel benefits that will affect their tax codes.
This means that company car drivers will be able to make any changes online to their company cars and will no longer have to wait for HMRC to update their tax code for them.
This is a strange development. The traditional system for notifying HMRC about changes in company cars is through the employer. It now looks like HMRC is allowing the employee to make the changes. What's to stop an employee from reducing either the list price or emissions of their company car? HMRC will then issue a new tax code, but the employer (usually) doesn't know why the tax code has changed. Presumably, it will get resolved at the end of a tax year when the P11D is filed, by which time the employee could have left the company.
This is a trial, as previously stated. Time will tell whether it becomes permanent. However, in the meantime, we would advise that employers continue to maintain control over contact with HMRC regarding company car changes.
More information can be obtained from here.
