EIM23660 - Car benefit: special cases: cars provided for home to work and training travel of disabled employees

Section 247 ITEPA 2003

A disabled employee to whom a car is made available without any transfer of the property in it would normally incur a car benefit charge under Section 120 ITEPA 2003 because all of the conditions in Section 114 ITEPA 2003 are met.

Section 247 ITEPA 2003 specifies limited circumstances in which a disabled employee is exempted from any income tax liability as a result of the car being made available.

Operation of Section 247

When all of the following three conditions are satisfied, the disabled employee is exempt from any car benefit, car fuel benefit or other residual liability under Part 3 Chapter 10 ITEPA 2003 that would otherwise arise.

Condition A is that the car has been adapted for the employee’s special needs or, in the case of an employee who because of disability can only drive a car that has automatic transmission, it is such a car.

Condition B is that the car is made available on terms prohibiting its use otherwise than for:

  • the employee’s business travel, or
  • transport for the employee for the purpose of:
  • ordinary commuting, or travel between any two places that is for practical purposes substantially ordinary commuting, or
  • travel to a place the expenses of travelling to which would be within one of the training exemption provisions if the employer paid them.

Condition C is that in the tax year the car is only used in accordance with those terms.

If any of conditions A, B or C is breached, the Section has no effect and does not create an exemption. Car benefit and car fuel benefit then apply in the normal way.

Definitions

Automatic transmission is explained at EIM24905.

Business travel is explained at EIM23305.

A disabled employee is an employee who has a physical or mental impairment with a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities, Section 246(4) ITEPA 2003.

Ordinary commuting is explained at EIM32055.

The training exemption provisions are Section 250 (exemption of work-related training), Section 255 (exemption of contributions to individual learning account training) and Section 311 (retraining courses) ITEPA 2003.

Years before 2003/04

These arrangements were formerly part of Extra-Statutory Concession A59.

Other adjustments to the car benefit provisions for disabled drivers

See EIM23650.