Changes to OpRA rules for vehicles

On 6 July as part of the draft legislation for inclusion in Finance Bill 2018 HMRC published changes to the optional remuneration arrangements (OpRA) rules. These changes are in cl 1 of the draft legislation and subject to parliamentary approval will be incorporated into ITEPA 2003 Pt 3 ch 6 (at new ss 120A 121A I32A and 154A) and Pt 4 ch 3 (s 239). These changes will come into force on 6 April 2019.

To recap

The OpRA rules were introduced By FA 2017 s 7 and Sch 2 in response to the increasing popularity of salary sacrifice schemes. In brief for 2017-18 onwards – and subject to transitional ‘grandfathering’ provisions – if benefits-in-kind are provided by way of salary sacrifice the tax charge is generally on the ‘amount forgone’ if this is greater than the...