Perk Tax on fuel

[Zuner]

This Question relates to fuel card tax.

I work for a company where i get a travel allowance as well as a petrol card for use in my PRIVATE vehicle. I do business travel when i visit clients.
We've recently undergone some changes:

Previously we would be charged 10% of total usage (business or private).
ie. if i used R5000 on the card i'd have a deductions for R5000 as well as an income of R4500 (R5000 - 10%).

That was great since we got "free" private travel as a perk to a point.

Now the model has changed and we still get a travel allowance and petrol card for use in a private vehicle.
But we now only claim back business km.

ie. use R5000 on the card and claim back only the business km.
So i'll get a deduction of R5000 and an income of Business km*rate per km.

This means i lose the perk of "free" private travel.

My concern here is i'm now mainly office based and go see a client VERY rarely. this means 99% of my usage is private but i still obviously get the deduction on my payslip.
since its on my payslip it gets taxed, thus i'm being taxed on the fuel usage to drive to the office and i also pay for the actual fuel since its a deduction.

Am i correct in thinking this?

 

[digitalis]

Yup. Sounds about right. Sars is getting more strict with untaxed travel perks.

 

[Zuner]

Yup. Sounds about right. Sars is getting more strict with untaxed travel perks.

though is it not better for me to NOT have the petrol card and use my own cash, since with the card i not only pay for all private usage on the card but also get taxed on said private usage since the full amount appears on my payslip.

 

[digitalis]

though is it not better for me to NOT have the petrol card and use my own cash, since with the card i not only pay for all private usage on the card but also get taxed on said private usage since the full amount appears on my payslip.

It should end up being the same tax wise. I think the idea with having a company card for petrol is just to have better personal cash flow. If you used your own cash to pay for petrol and then had to do a long business road trip, then you would have to wait to the end of the month to be reimbursed. Better to spend the company's money now and pay them back later than using your money now and getting paid back later.

 

[Zuner]

It should end up being the same tax wise. I think the idea with having a company card for petrol is just to have better personal cash flow. If you used your own cash to pay for petrol and then had to do a long business road trip, then you would have to wait to the end of the month to be reimbursed. Better to spend the company's money now and pay them back later than using your money now and getting paid back later.

I see now the deduction won't get taxed, only if i claim the business, hence the private use is the same whether i pay cash or use company card.

Does anyone know the rate per km that i should be getting for business km. since the whole amount gets deducted i must claim back the business.

 

[c10n3d_0r6]

I see now the deduction won't get taxed, only if i claim the business, hence the private use is the same whether i pay cash or use company card.

Does anyone know the rate per km that i should be getting for business km. since the whole amount gets deducted i must claim back the business.

These might help:
https://www.aa.co.za/calculators/vehicle-rates-calculator
http://www.sars.gov.za/Tax-Rates/Employers/Pages/Rates-per-kilometer.aspx

 

[akescpt]

but that was a bloody nice perk hey. *** it.

 

[Zuner]

These might help:
https://www.aa.co.za/calculators/vehicle-rates-calculator
http://www.sars.gov.za/Tax-Rates/Employers/Pages/Rates-per-kilometer.aspx

thanks i'll have a look

but that was a bloody nice perk hey. *** it.

Yeah it was great, i never knew what the petrol price was cause it didn't effect me much. now though its knocking me down.
many years ago i once drove from the vaal to jhb to buy takeaways and go back again lol. i'm gonna miss it.