Readers' forum: Tangled web

When preparing my company’s capital allowance claim for the year ended 31 December 2018 I consulted the HMRC website to confirm the CO2 emission levels to allocate the company-owned cars between the main pool and the special rate pool.

The capital allowances section on the website (tinyurl.com/HMRC-88524) states clearly that for cars purchased after April 2015 the main rate should be claimed for cars with emission levels between 75g/km and 130g/km. My company has always insisted that all cars are below the 130g/km so that the main rate allowances can be claimed.

I was disappointed to learn that from April 2018 the upper limit for the main rate pool is 110g/km. Apparently FA 2017 implemented a policy paper published in November 2016.

Consequently my company has bought cars expecting that they would be eligible for the main rate pool but which will no...