Bike to work

hippy "For those of you that are self-employed (or in a partnership) you are able to buy a bike through your business "

Ooh that's just given me an idea...

Interestingly, you could also theoretically transfer a bike (or more than one, if you can justify it) into your business at current market value and then start claiming capital allowances on it in the normal way. Obviously you wouldn't be able to reclaim the VAT, but you'd still be able to get a tax saving for something you currently own. That said, it's a bit aggressive and I'm not sure how much HMRC would be laughing if they found out you'd done that with a high value bike.

Oh, the other good thing about buying a bike as a sole trader/member of a partnership is that you're not limited to £1,000. The £1,000 thing relates to the point at which someone needs a commercial credit license (I think that is the term); if you work for a company that has a commercial credit license (i.e. one of those companies that shops use for their interest free credit) then you could get a bike in excess of £1,000. Also, my gut feeling is that the actual limit for the scheme should be £1,175 (if the company passes the VAT saving on to you), as the amount that they would then be claiming CAs on/having reimbursed to them should be £1,000.

hippy
"Any amounts deducted from your gross salary in excess of the purchase price (net of VAT) would reduce the deduction that they could make from their profits in calculating the amount assessable to tax."

and that sentence sums up (pun on!) why I wasn't an accountant! :)

I'm not an accountant, I'm too cool. I'm a tax adviser. Any body wants more specific advise about this, whisper it to me.