I sometimes use one of my bikes for work and I have been advised by my accountant that I should think about transferring ownership of it from myself to my limited company. All straightforward apart from insurance - I currently use ebike and they will only provide insurance if I am the owner. Anyone out there got insurance for a bike where their company is the owner?
I think I would query what your accountant advised you to do.......(unless there is something afoot that I'm not seeing and not describing on here)...... :wink: ......my accountant advised me to do the opposite and keep my car as personal ownership and claim the 'generous' mileage allowance...... ...otherwise the vehicle becomes an asset of the company in the first instance; which means you personally can't dispose of it....the company has to (which no doubt isn't going to be a problem for an 'owner managed limited company'). Secondly you will get whacked for benefit in kind on both vehicle and petrol. Third, you could possibly be taxed on what the company pay you for the vehicle. Although in the long run, if it is a company vehicle; you could give to the company as a financial injection which helps the Directors Account. If purchased from you, maybe depreciation of the vehicle / asset can be offset against profits....then ultimately you could buy it back from the company at a very knockdown price. But HMRC watch out for this sort of thing very closely, as you are no doubt aware. AL
Dave, does your company have any other vehicles? If so which company insures them and do they cover bikes too? As Al has said its something to be wary of as the taxman has devious ways of getting his pound of flesh. Maybe next time you want a new bike then the company could buy it ( legal owners) it then becomes an asset therefore fuel running costs etc paid by the company and tax deductible, and after a few years it loses this and the company replaces said machine with another new one and sells the old one at a reduced price, maybe to you? Check that out with your accountant.
My accountant said the same to me years ago and as a consequence I've run my last 3-4 bikes as company bikes. I have had no problems with insurance as I have been the registered keeper on the log book and the true 'ownership' has never been asked of me. Benefit in kind tax is a bonus, as I have stated that I only use the bike for personal use for 6 months of the year and can only use it at weekends (as I am obviously at work the rest of the week), so tax is calculated as being 2/7ths of 50% of the annual liability :0)
My company doesn't own any other vehicles. The potential financial advantages of the company owning the bike rather than me are clear - the problem I am facing is insurance as my current insurer (eBike) specifically won't provide insurance unless I am both the owner and registered keeper.
