Biking still tax free!
The Government are always pushing for us to become 'greener' and have put some incentives in place to entice us to conform.
There are a number of formal "tax-free bike schemes" which have beendeveloped in response to the Government's "Green Transport Plan".
So if you fancy becoming 'greener' and fitter consider ditching the car and pedalling to work.
Basically your employer buys a bike and any equipment relating to itand hires it to you until you have paid back its full cost, usuallyover a year.
The tax break is facilitated because you pay for the bike byagreeing to reduce your monthly/weekly salary, before tax and NIC isdeducted under the 'salary sacrifice scheme'. Paying in this way youcan meet your repayments out of your pre-tax rather than post taxedincome.
This can translate to almost a 50% cash discount on the price of anew bike. Higher rate tax payers will benefit more from the scheme.
The scheme applies to employees only, with a contract of employment and earnings that are at or above the national minumum wage level once the salary sacrifice has been applied. Please see further details on the 'salary sacrifice scheme' on the HMRC website.