Introduction Background
13.This section achieves four objectives. These are (a) to bring two concessions into law, (b) to amend the current legislation so that it is compatible with EU law, (c) to streamline how the law is set out to aid small business’s understanding; and, (d) to simplify how the valuation tables are updated over time.
14.The changes made preserve all of the options for dealing with private use of business road fuel that are currently available. These are: (a) to treat all road fuel purchased as a business asset and declare scale charges to account for private use under the optional flat rate scheme; (b) keep accurate records of mileage split between business and private journeys (such records can be used to either apportion fuel purchases so that only fuel for business journeys is counted as a business asset, or to accurately value deemed supplies of fuel); and, (c) not to treat road fuel as a business asset, in which case no deemed supplies can arise. HMRC will provide improved guidance for taxpayers so that they may choose the option that best suits them with the minimum of compliance cost in doing so.