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  • You save 32% (tax and NI) in the first year but then, at this point, the bike still belongs to the company.

    They can't give it to you because it'd be a benefit in kind and therefore taxable (and no different to you just paying for the bike in the first place), so you've got two main options (the third is giving the bike back but that's insane given you've paid 68% of its value already):-

    a) Buy the bike outright for 18% or 25% of its market (18% for a certificate up to £500, 25% for an original certificate of £500 or more).

    So for a £1000 bike that'd be a saving of 7% plus the bonus of paying for the bike in 0% interest monthly payments spread over a year.

    b) Pay a 3% or 7% deposit (3% for a certificate up to £500, 7% for certificate of £500 or over) and make no further payments for another 3 years. After those 3 years the bike has depreciated in value to the value of this deposit, and so you can now use this deposit to buy the bike off the company. (If you leave the company earlier than this then you'll need to pay more to buy the bike off them, see below.)

    So for a £1000 bike you'd pay the original 68% for the bike and another 7% for this (non-refunded) deposit meaning you pay 75% all in all and so save 25%.

    This does mean you have to stay at the company for all 4 years though. If you leave after 2 years then the bike will not have depreciated to the deposit value (it's 13%/17% based on whether the voucher was for less than £500 as before).

    HMRC table:-

    12 months: <£500=18%, else 25%
    18 months: 16% 21%
    2 years: 13% 17%
    3 years: 8% 12%
    4 years: 3% 7%

    So for a bike of £1000 the costs/savings are based on how long you stay at the company:-

    less than 12 months and you have to pay the remaining monthly payments out of taxable salary, you might even end up paying more for the bike if this happens!
    12 months (from original purchase): 68%+25% = 93% so 7% saving
    18 months: 68%+21% = 89% so 11% saving
    2 years: 68%+17% = 85% so 15% saving
    3 years: 68%+12% = 80% so 20% saving
    4 years: 68%+7% = 75% so 25% saving

    http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/help/faqs/end-of-hire

  • If they did just give it to you (or charge a nominal fee that isn't in the above table), surely you would only pay the tax on the depreciated value and not the full depreciated value?

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