Car Benefit Workbook Software

Reviewed by Mark McLaughlin ATII ATT TEP

The 'Car Benefit Workbook' by Payexcel Limited is not the first product to compare the cost of running a company car against the cost of an employee using his or her own vehicle, and it probably won't be the last. However, like Payexcel's other products ('PAYExcel' and the 'Business Tax Comparison Workbook'), one of its big attractions for me is that it is built on Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet software, with which I am reasonably familiar both at home and in the office environment. And possibly you will be, too.

Summary

Anyone who has performed 'company vs own car' comparisons manually will appreciate that the calculations are fairly complex and laborious. They are not the easiest computations to set out in a comprehensible way, either. The 'Car Benefit Workbook' tries to make the process as painless and presentable as possible"!

The Contents

As indicated, the format is an .xls spreadsheet, with a number of worksheets across the bottom of the page. I would recommend that the user reads the 'Quick Tour' first, to get a feel for the workbook and its capabilities.

Using the Car Benefit Workbook

There is a 'summary' sheet, which shows the company car / own car comparison not only for the year under review, but for the following two years as well. As the name suggests, this worksheet summarises and compares the costs for a company car against a private car. The calculations (even for a summary) may well appear slightly daunting for uninitiated taxpayers (or their advisers!). However, this is mainly due to the complex nature of the calculations. On the 'plus' side, it shows the 'bottom line' clearly, i.e. whether a company car is an advantage or a disadvantage in financial terms, both for the employee and the employer.

A 'taxable benefits' worksheet requires the user's input. This is where the company car details are entered, including the carbon dioxide emissions figure (if appropriate). This sheet calculates the employee's car and fuel benefits for the company car, for any three consecutive tax years between 2002/03 and 2008/09. This is a useful benefits calculator, even if comparisons with the employee's own vehicle are not necessary.

A separate worksheet ('company car costs') calculates the cost to the employer of providing the employee with a company car, again for a three year period. This sheet requires an amount of input from the user (and for certain assumptions to be made, of necessity). A clear breakdown of the cost components is given, which makes potentially interesting reading.

An 'own car alternative' worksheet calculates the cost to the employee of running his (or her) own car. In many cases, employers will offer the employee additional salary in lieu of a company car. The user can factor this information into the calculations as well. The figures also cover a 3 year period.

There is also a 'scale charges' worksheet, which includes various tables used in the comparison calculations (e.g. the car benefit tables, and approved mileage rates for business use in the employee's own car). This sheet allows the user to input the various rates and allowances up to and including 2008/09 as they become known, and to estimate them in the meantime for 'what if?' scenarios.

The Verdict

This is a comprehensive, well thought out and comparatively straightforward product. It removes the necessity for complex and time consuming manual calculations, and is easy to use. It is a difficult task for any software developer to present the information and calculations in a way that the average taxpayer can follow (e.g. where accountants are printing the pages as reports to their clients). The workbook makes a good job of trying to do so, particularly the summary page.

Further information

For further information on PAYExcel software and the cost, visit www.PAYExcel.co.uk.

Read our review on their other products:

- PAYExcel Software

- Business Tax Comparison Workbook

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this review are those of the writer only and not necessarily those of TaxationWeb. No responsibility can be accepted by the writer or TaxationWeb for any loss arising from action undertaken or refrained from as a result of this review.

Mark McLaughlin
August 2002