BVRLA News
www.bvrla.co.uk June/July 2012
The newsletter of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association
Business car tax battle The BVRLA has begun mobilising its resources to challenge the government’s ‘tax attack’ on the vehicle rental and leasing industry. March’s Budget introduced a series of changes to the company car tax regime and made it much harder for BVRLA members and their customers to claim tax relief (‘capital allowances’) on lease and rental vehicles. Government ‘Tax Attack’ The government hopes to earn an extra £2bn from company car tax from 2013-17. It wants to make nearly one million fewer business cars eligible for 100% first year or standard tax relief during the same period. In July the association assembled a ‘Business Car Taxation Task Force’ to develop lobbying strategies and technical arguments against what it sees as discrimination against vehicle rental and leasing. The task force plans to commission a report to use member statistics and other data to challenge elements of the government’s capital allowances regime. In particular, it wants to reverse the decision to remove the 100% first-year
capital allowances available on lowemission vehicles from leased cars, which would also impact rental firms. The group will also seek to challenge the continuing application of the Lease Rental Restriction, which prevents companies deducting the full cost of leasing or renting certain cars from their taxable profits. “Tax incentives for reducing fleet emissions have worked too well and the government is worried about falling revenues,” said BVRLA chief executive John Lewis. “But these measures are misguided, unfair and too aggressive. The government has erected a massive roadblock across the route to lower-carbon motoring and could end up driving many low-carbon vehicle manufacturers out of business completely.” The BVRLA has already started trying to persuade the government for a more gradual introduction of its planned increase in company car tax for cars emitting between 0 and 75g/km CO2. Otherwise, in April 2015 these cars will go from being zero rated or taxed at 5% of their P11D price to a 13% rate overnight. The association is also seeking more clarity on how leased electric vehicle batteries will be taxed and how electricity for charging will be treated within the fuel benefit regime. n BVRLA chief executive John Lewis took part in the recent Trading Standards Institute Annual Conference, where he shared the association’s experiences of running an alternative dispute resolution service. Pictured (from left) are: Philip Collins, chairman, Office of Fair Trading; Jean Marc Noël, managing director, Trusted Shops; John Lewis; Liz Barclay, facilitator; Malcolm Harbour MEP; and Arnold Pindar, president of ANEC, ‘the European consumer voice in standardisation’.
In this issue No exemption from age discrimination law As the Home Office refuses to exempt car rental from the Equality Act, the BVRLA plans its advice for members page 2 BVRLA backs OFT motor insurance move The association backs the Office of Fair Trading’s plan to refer private motor insurance to the Competition Commission page 3 The view from BMW How did the German car maker drive to the front of the fleet market – and what will it do next? BVRLA News spoke to corporate operations manager Steve Chater page 4 Consumer protection Consumer law will see some major changes over the next few years: find out what to expect – and what to do page 6 The A to Z of the ATA Learn how ATA accreditation helped Alphabet (UK) Fleet Management, and how it could help your company and staff too page 7
— Promoting responsible road transport since 1967 —