Fleets are increasingly seeking external advice to work through the implications of new tax regulations that will take effect from April this year, reports Arval.
The vehicle leasing and fleet management company says that the headline changes – affecting Benefit in Kind for drivers entitled to a cash option or a company car, salary exchange schemes and vehicle excise duty – require careful thought and planning.
Richard Cox, Senior Fleet Consultant, said, “In recent years, annual changes to tax affecting company cars have been incremental and signposted some way in advance. However, the new changes have been more sudden and, for that reason, caught some fleets off-guard.
“Certainly, we are hearing from a number of businesses asking for expert input which is absolutely the right thing to do. Some elements taking effect in April do not always have obvious solutions and, for this reason, we have been asked for help by a relatively large number of vehicle operators.”
As a result of the nature of the changes, Richard added, consultancy services were especially being sought by fleet stakeholders such as human resources and finance departments – as well as from fleet managers themselves looking to understand all of the options available to them.