HMRC has issued the new advisory fuel rates, the advised recompense employers should award employees claiming company car mileage. The new rates will usurp the existing ones on the first of September, with the grace period of overlap of one month from June’s figures granted as standard.
What will disappoint motorists, as well as green bodies and those driving the e-volution of emission-free transport, is that there’s still no acknowledgement of electricity as a fuel by the Treasury.
Petrol, Diesel and LPG, yes. Some of those rates stay the same. Others have decreased, possibly due to the decrease in the price of barrels of crude oil. The forecast reduction of the price at the pumps also could be triggered by whispers of a ‘glut’ of petrol reserves building up around the world.
Here’s the complete table, showing both the rates that take effect from September and the legacy prices from June:
| Engine CC/Fuel | Petrol | LPG | Diesel | |||
| Effective date | Jun-Aug | Sep-Nov | Jun-Aug | Sep-Nov | Jun-Aug | Sep-Nov |
| >1400cc | £0.12 | £0.11 | £0.08 | £0.07 | – | – |
| 1401-2000cc | £0.14 | £0.14 | £0.09 | £0.09 | – | – |
| <2000cc | £0.21 | £0.21 | £0.14 | £0.14 | – | – |
| >1600cc | – | – | – | – | £0.10 | £0.09 |
| 1601-2000cc | – | – | – | – | £0.12 | £0.11 |
| <2000cc | – | – | – | – | £0.14 | £0.13 |
Watt, no electric?
The cynical amongst us, especially those with businesses, will point to two glaring issues (before we even get onto e-vehicles being absent):
- all of the reimbursement levels for diesel have reduced for the coming quarter;
- the smaller capacity vehicles have also see their rate of compensation drop, but the gas-guzzlers have not.
Given that the government has committed to both businesses and the environment, it seems the tax man isn’t even in the same book, let alone on the same page. For company car/van drivers, the incentives are there to keep the 2.0-litre plus engines. In contrast, employees who go for economic vehicles less than 1400cc will be able to claim less back on their mileage.
Back in June, Fleet News published the thoughts of TMC‘s commercial director on the absence of HMRC considering electric fuel for the AFR tariff.
The article goes into the maths of how, using the Energy Savings’ Trust figures, Fleet worked out a token AFR rate for electric vans and cars. The TL;DR version is that employers should reimburse employees who drive electric vehicles £0.03/mile, or 0.294p if you want to be exact. 😉
Let’s hope the government applies a little pressure on the Tax Man to incorporate green fuels into its next AFR directive. As it it, the fact that he ignores electric fuel is, well, quite shocking!