Car or van?

Classification of vehicles supplied to employees

The appeal concerned vehicles supplied by Coca-Cola to its employees. Until 1997 the company provided estate cars but then it decided the employees needed vans because they had to carry more and heavier equipment than before.

The decision includes a lot of information about the kind of vehicles supplied. But in essence the taxpayers claimed they were goods vehicles within ITEPA 2003 s 115(2). HMRC disagreed saying they should be subject to the company car rules.

The First-tier Tribunal decided the Volkswagen Transporter Kombis were cars but the Vauxhall Vivaro were vans. Both types of vehicles have two rows of seats and a payload of more than one tonne but the tribunal said the Vivaros should be classed as vans because of the significant cargo space available in the middle section.

Coca-Cola’s appeal was allowed in so far as...