CA23545 - Plant and Machinery Allowances (PMA): cars: CO2 emissions

CAA01/S268C

The car’s emissions figure is that stated on the qualifying emissions certificate for the car when it was first registered. A qualifying emissions certificate is either an EC certificate of conformity or a UK approval certificate, in other words a car’s emissions figures are stated on the V5. Emissions data for different makes and models of car can also be found on 'Car fuel and emissions data', gov.uk.

Carbon dioxide emissions information included on gov.uk, in manufacturers’ promotional literature and available at the point of sale is required to reflect the worst case figure for that particular model description. Therefore, specifying optional equipment on a new car (roof bars, say) should not result in the vehicle delivered having a higher emissions figure than expected. However, it is recommended that businesses seek confirmation of the emissions figure of the specific car they are buying from the dealer.

The UK and other European Union countries require that cars sold must meet a set of environmental and safety standards, often referred to as type approval. Each car sold must conform to a type (of which a sample has been submitted by the manufacturer or importer) that has been approved by a national certification agency. The level of carbon dioxide emissions is one of the factors recorded during the type approval testing. Very small manufacturers are exempted from this process so the cars they produce may not have known emission figures. Such cars tend not to have low carbon dioxide emissions so expenditure on them will be allocated to the special rate pool. Again, this approach has been taken for simplicity.

Where there is non-business use of the car so that the expenditure is allocated to a single asset pool, the rate of writing down allowance (WDA) claimable will still depend on the carbon dioxide emissions of the car. See 'Claim capital allowances - Business Cars', gov.uk.