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Free fuel and the fuel scale charge

Fuel gauge SEAT
'Free' fuel is a heavily taxed benefit

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6 February 2017

THE level of benefit in kind car tax you pay for receiving free fuel for your company car rises again for the 2017/18 tax year.

For the tax year 2017/18 the fuel scale charge is £22,600.

It makes deciding whether to take free fuel a more important decision than ever. Never having to pay for your fuel might sound ideal; but you pay for it in ever increasingly expensive company car tax.

So it’s important to work out if it really is worth taking free fuel for your private journeys – and whether the ‘free’ bit is actually costing you money.

How to work out if free fuel is worth it

  • You will need to know the following:
  • Your company car’s combined fuel consumption figure
  • The CO2 emissions of your company car
  • The company car tax band of your company car
  • Your marginal rate of tax
  • The current cost of fuel (such as the AA’s Fuel Price Report)
  • And, of course, the government fuel scale charge
  • Or use our Free Fuel Benefit Checker

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